The internal uprising turned armed conflict in Syria that
began in 2011 has taken a terrible toll on civilians. The harms to civilians
have been greatly magnified by deliberate and indiscriminate attacks by Syrian
government forces and militias and various armed groups. Human Rights Watch has extensively
documented unlawful attacks by government
armed forces and pro-government militias. These include their use of banned
weapons – chemical and incendiary shells, cluster munitions, and
antipersonnel landmines – and weapons that are indiscriminate when used
in populated areas – such as rockets, heavy artillery, fuel-air explosives and,
increasingly, improvised “barrel bombs.”

This report looks at violations by armed groups opposed to
the Syrian government between January 2012 and April 2014. It examines in
detail indiscriminate attacks with car bombs, mortars and unguided rockets in heavily
populated, government-controlled areas that have killed hundreds of civilians in Damascus and in Homs in central Syria.

The report
is based on victim and witness accounts, on-site investigations, publicly
available videos, and other research. The report covers attacks in central Damascus and Sayida Zeinab and Jaramana in
Damascus Countryside governorate, and attacks in the neighborhoods of al-Zahra,
Akrama, al-Nazha, and Bab Sba` in the city of Homs, and in the village of
Thabtieh near Homs. We selected these
neighborhoods to conduct our investigations because they were among those most
prone to attack by opposition groups and because of our ability to visit them.

The areas investigated for
this report are populated areas predominately occupied by religious minorities,
including Shias, Alawites, Druze, and Christians, and were in close proximity
to neighborhoods under the control of opposition groups. Exceptions were Bab
Sba`, which is a predominately Sunni neighborhood with some Christian
residents, and central Damascus, which is a mixed neighborhood of various
faiths.

Human Rights Watch’s
research allowed us to reach conclusions about the likely place from where an
artillery or rocket attack came. However, among the many opposition armed
groups we were not able to pinpoint the specific groups responsible for
specific attacks. We have sought to differentiate the various groups that were
engaged in military operations against the Syrian government in the areas
covered, including the Free Syrian Army, the Islamic Front, the Islamic State,
also known as ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra, and other armed groups.

Human Rights Watch found that
in the areas we could visit, neighborhoods under government control inhabited
predominately by religious minorities were subject to more indiscriminate
attacks by opposition groups than areas that were largely majority Sunni.
Public statements by opposition armed groups provided strong evidence that
these groups considered the religious minorities to be backing the Syrian
government or that the attacks were in retaliation for government attacks on
Sunni civilians elsewhere in the country.

Car Bombings and Improvised Explosive Devices

Opposition armed groups began using car bombs and improvised explosive devices
(IEDs), sometimes in suicide attacks, in areas under government control in 2012.
Initial attacks targeted state security forces and outposts, but the groups
soon began to carry out bombings in populated areas without evident military targets.

Human Rights Watch collected
information on 17 car bombings and other IED attacks between January 2012 and
April 2014 in Jaramana in Damascus Countryside, one in central Damascus, six in
neighborhoods of al-Zahra, Akrama, and al-Nazha in the city of Homs, and one in
the village of Thabtieh near Homs.

The car bombings took place in commercial and residential
areas, squares in the center of towns, and in one case at a local cemetery
during a funeral. Since April 2014, car bombings have continued, including a
twin bombing on October 1 just outside of an elementary school in Akrama, Homs
that reportedly killed dozens of civilians, mostly children.

In all of the incidents investigated by Human Rights Watch,
witnesses said there were no military targets anywhere near the site of the
bombing. Besides being indiscriminate, as outlined in this report, several
factors indicated that many of these attacks were intended primarily to spread
terror among the civilian population, in violation of international law. In several car bombings, two bombs were set off
consecutively in the same vicinity, one shortly after the other, in an apparent
attempt to maximize the number of deaths and injuries.

In most of the car bombings
Human Rights Watch investigated, such as the September 2013 car bombing in
al-Wahda Square in Jaramana, no armed group claimed responsibility. However,
the extremist Islamist groups Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS claimed responsibility
for some of these car bomb attacks, such as the bombing on October 24, 2013 on al-Ahram Street near the al-Nazha
Square in Homs killing at least three people and injuring dozens. Jabhat al-Nusra claimed responsibility for the
bombing, saying that it was a reaction to the government’s attacks
against Sunni neighborhoods.

Indiscriminate Shelling of Populated Areas

Opposition armed groups
frequently fired mortars, locally made rockets, and other artillery into
Damascus and its environs and Homs, in apparently indiscriminate attacks that
caused numerous civilian casualties. Human Rights Watch collected
information on hundreds of artillery attacks on Jaramana, dozens of them taking
place in October and November 2013 alone. These attacks struck at or near at
least six schools that were operational at the time, two hit aid and shelter
facilities, and four hit residential areas in central parts of the city.

In Damascus and Damascus
Countryside, in all but two cases, interviews with witnesses and visits to
attack sites uncovered no evidence of military targets in the vicinity, making
the attacks on civilians indiscriminate and possibly deliberate. In two
instances a military checkpoint was nearby, but the attack carried out was
still evidently indiscriminate. According to witness accounts, on-site
investigations, and public statements from armed groups, most of the shelling
on Damascus and Damascus Countryside documented in this report appeared to
originate from Jobar, Beit Sahm, Ain Terma,
Shabha, and Mleha – areas that were then under the control of opposition
armed groups.

In Homs, opposition armed
groups had been losing territory to government forces, but from January 2013
through April 2014 they used their positions there to shell government-held
territory. They have frequently asserted in public statements that such attacks
target government forces that have regularly attacked them. Nonetheless,
interviews with witnesses and visits to attack
sites uncovered no evidence of military targets in the vicinity of strike
sites, making the attacks on civilians indiscriminate and possibly deliberate.
Reports and witness testimony reflect that the only military target struck in
Jaramana was the headquarters of the National Defense Forces.

More than a dozen armed
groups were involved in shelling government-held areas in Homs and Damascus. As
a result, Human Rights Watch has been unable to link specific attacks with the
armed group responsible. However, we were able to identify the groups that were
conducting such operations during the time period covered in the report.

Justifying the Attacks and
International Law

International humanitarian
law, or the laws of war, applies to the armed conflict in Syria. All parties to
the armed conflict, including opposition armed groups, are prohibited from
conducting direct
attacks on civilians, attacks made with no effort to distinguish between
civilians and combatants, and attacks that cause civilian harm disproportionate
to the expected military gain. Individuals who plan, order, or carry out
unlawful attacks with criminal intent are subject to prosecution for war
crimes, including as a matter of command responsibility.

In many instances, opposition
armed groups have sought to justify indiscriminate car bombings or artillery
attacks on populated areas by claiming that they were targeting shabiha
strongholds. The term shabiha refers specifically to pro-government
militias but has also been used for government supporters and others presumed
to be loyal to the government, including minority Alawites and Shia. In some
cases, the armed groups said attacks were in reprisal for government attacks
against civilians elsewhere in the country.

The
justifications presented reflect the view among some armed groups that all
means are legitimate to fight the government of President Bashar al-Assad, that
those living in areas under government control may be attacked in retaliation
for attacks on civilians in opposition held areas, and that populations perceived
as associated with or supporting the government are subject to attack.

International
humanitarian law rejects such arguments. Respect for the law does not depend on
reciprocity – that one side only need to obey the law if the other side
does so – but each party has its own obligation to act in accordance with
the law regardless of the other side’s actions. If this were not the case
– and the widespread abuses by all sides in the Syrian conflict are
evidence of this – violations by one side would simply encourage
violations by the other, creating a deadly spiral of atrocity.

Not only
should all military forces and armed groups in Syria cease unlawful attacks,
but influential supporters, including political and religious leaders in Syria
and abroad which have taken sides in the conflict in Syria, should condemn them
for the harm they inflict upon civilians. Governments and individuals who
provide military assistance to belligerents that commit widespread or
systematic violations of the laws of war risk being complicit in those abuses
and should stop their assistance.

By
documenting these abuses, Human Rights Watch is challenging the disregard for
international law endorsed by some opposition armed groups in Syria. Regardless
of the well documented violations committed by the Syrian government and
pro-government militias, armed groups are obligated to abide by international
humanitarian law. International humanitarian law is not intended to create
parity between parties to a conflict, or to assess their violations in light of
their relevant capacities, but to minimize harm to the civilian population and
other non-combatants.

In February 2014, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution
2139 demanding that “all parties immediately cease all attacks against
civilians, as well as the indiscriminate employment of weapons in populated
areas, including shelling and aerial bombardment, such as the use of barrel
bombs, and methods of warfare which are of a nature to cause superfluous injury
or unnecessary suffering.” Yet, the unlawful attacks by all parties to the
conflict in Syria continue.

Human Rights Watch calls on all parties to the conflict to
abide by the laws of war, especially by immediately ending all deliberate,
indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks against civilians. Those
responsible for abuses should be appropriately held to account.

Explosive weapons have killed and injured thousands of
Syrian civilians since 2012. Both government forces and opposition armed groups
in Syria should halt their use of explosive weapons with wide effects in
populated areas.

We reiterate our longstanding call for the UN Security
Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court and
for the Security Council to impose an arms embargo on those forces credibly
implicated in widespread or systematic serious abuses, until such time as the
abuses end and perpetrators are held to account.

To Opposition Groups in Syria

Abide by the laws of war, especially by
immediately ending all deliberate, indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks
against civilians;

Cease all use of explosive weapons with wide
area effects in populated areas;

Take appropriate disciplinary measures
against members who commit violations of the laws of war or other abuses;

Cease cooperation and coordination with
armed groups credibly found to systematically perpetrate abuses against the
civilian population;

To the Syrian Government

Abide by the laws of war, especially by
immediately ending all deliberate, indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks
against civilians;

Cease all use of explosive weapons with wide
area effects in populated areas;

Investigate alleged violations of the laws
of war and other abuses, and discipline or prosecute as appropriate members of
the state security forces responsible;

Provide immediate and unhindered access and
cooperation to Syria to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
and the UN Human Rights Council Commission of Inquiry on Syria.

To the UN Security Council

Refer the situation in Syria to the
International Criminal Court;

Following on the non-compliance with
Security Council Resolution 2139, adopt targeted sanctions on commanders from
all sides whose subordinates are implicated in serious abuses or who are
themselves responsible for serious abuses;

Following on the non-compliance with
Security Council Resolution 2139, require states to suspend all military sales
and assistance, including technical training and services, to all forces
credibly implicated in the commission of widespread or systematic violations of
international human rights or humanitarian law in Syria until such time as they
stop committing these abuses and perpetrators are fully and appropriately held
to account;

Demand that the Syrian government and opposition
groups cooperate fully with the UN Human Rights Council Commission of Inquiry,
including by giving it unrestricted access anywhere in Syria;

To Countries Supporting Opposition Groups

Publicly condemn abuses committed by opposition
groups and urge them to cease deliberate, indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks
against civilians;

Deny any armed group committing systematic
or widespread violations of international human rights and humanitarian law
assistance until such time as they stop committing these abuses and perpetrators
are fully and appropriately held to account;

Increase monitoring and restrict money
transfers to armed groups implicated in systematic or widespread abuses, and
enhance border controls to stem the flow of foreign fighters to such groups.

To All Countries

Adopt, unilaterally or jointly through
regional mechanisms as appropriate, targeted sanctions against leaders and
commanders credibly implicated in serious violations of international human
rights and humanitarian law in Syria;

Investigate and appropriately prosecute, under
the principle of universal jurisdiction and in accordance with national laws,
members of the Syrian armed forces, of pro-government militias, and of
opposition armed groups who are criminally liable for international crimes in
Syria;

Call on the UN Security Council to refer the
situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court, as the forum most
capable of effectively investigating and prosecuting those bearing the greatest
responsibility for serious international crimes in Syria.

Methodology

This
report is based primarily on a field investigation in November 2013 by Human
Rights Watch researchers to Homs, Damascus and Damascus Countryside governorates
to look at attacks against civilians by armed groups opposed to the Syrian
government. Human Rights Watch requested and received permission from the
Syrian government to visit the country for the purpose of conducting this
investigation. We have also examined reports of alleged unlawful attacks by
opposition groups against government-controlled areas in Aleppo, as well as the
besieged towns of Nubul and Zahra, but Human Rights Watch was not been able to
visit these areas for security reasons and they are not included in this
report.

Syrian
government officials or security personnel did not limit the movements of our
staff conducting this research and did not restrict to whom researchers spoke
in the areas visited. Government officials and security personnel were not
present during interviews with residents or other non-government witnesses to
attacks.

During
the investigation in Syria, Human Rights Watch interviewed in person 86
individuals, including victims and their family members, witnesses to attacks
and their aftermath, hospital staff, Syrian government officials including
security personnel, and members of Syria’s National Defense Forces. Many
were residents of neighborhoods in Homs and Damascus neighboring or in close
proximity to territory held by opposition groups. Human Rights Watch selected
the neighborhoods where it conducted its investigations based on those most
prone to attack by opposition groups. These neighborhoods included Jaramana,
the old city of Damascus, Sayida Zeinab, Akrama, al-Nazha, and al-Zahra, areas
with a high concentration of religious minorities, including Druze, Shias,
Alawites, and Christians. They also included some areas, such as central
Damascus and Bab Sba`, with mixed demographics.

Human
Rights Watch also interviewed by telephone and in Lebanon four additional
victims and witnesses.

All
interviews were conducted in Arabic or with the assistance of an Arabic
interpreter. Human Rights Watch explained the purpose of the interviews to
interviewees and obtained their consent to use the information they provided in
this report. Interviewees did not receive any compensation.

In
all cases Human Rights Watch has not identified interviewees because naming
them could jeopardize their security. Many specifically asked not to be named
for this reason.

We
corroborated much of the information gathered from witnesses through our own
onsite investigation as well as though analysis of photos, video footage, and
other publicly available information about the attacks. Human Rights Watch
reviewed over 150 videos posted on YouTube by activists and members of
opposition groups before, during, and in the immediate aftermath of the attacks
documented in this report. We also reviewed photographs and footage filmed by
local residents and media outlets close to the Syrian government. Human Rights
Watch retains copies of all online videos cited in this report and of the
information cited from social media sites.

In
addition, Human Rights Watch obtained hospital records from the staff at
hospitals in Damascus and Homs to corroborate witness statements and compile
information about overall death and injury rates from car bombings and
artillery attacks in areas served by the hospitals.

Information
about which opposition groups were involved in the operations was gathered
primarily through a review of public statements made by the groups and on
social media sites, and a review of other publicly available sources including
media reports.

I. Background: From Violent Crackdown to Armed
Conflict

After anti-government protests began in March 2011, Syrian
government forces, including the army and security services supported by
militias, frequently used lethal force against largely peaceful demonstrators.
Unable to quell the protest movement, in April 2011 the Syrian army launched military
assaults against restive parts of the country.[1]

Government forces committed a range of human rights
violations in the context of these operations including arbitrary arrests,
torture, extrajudicial executions, and unlawful killings.[2]
As government military forces increasingly engaged in operations, some
opposition groups began arming themselves and conducting both offensive and
defensive operations against government forces. A group of defectors from the
Syrian army announced on July 29, 2011 the creation of the Free Syrian Army.[3]

In February 2012 the Syrian government launched a major
offensive and started using mortars and artillery to bombard residential
neighborhoods in Homs and other areas under the control of opposition groups.[4]
The Syrian air force soon began indiscriminately striking populated areas using
aircraft.[5] By late
May, helicopters were carrying out attacks almost daily, particularly against opposition-controlled
areas in northern Syria.[6] The
Syrian government’s reliance on air power rapidly increased, and on July
24, 2012, media outlets reported the first attack using jet aircraft against
Aleppo city.[7]

By mid-2012, Human Rights Watch and the International
Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) each publicly concluded that the fighting in
Syria amounted to a non-international armed conflict, which meant that the laws
of war applied to the parties to the conflict.[8]

Human Rights Watch documented large-scale human rights and
laws-of-war violations by government security forces and pro-government armed
groups, amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Government forces
have repeatedly conducted indiscriminate attacks using airpower and artillery
against opposition-controlled areas resulting in numerous civilian casualties.[9]
In some cases government forces have also shelled areas where they perceived
the local population to be sympathetic to opposition groups but where there
were no military forces.[10]

During offensive operations against government forces, some
opposition groups also perpetrated abuses during offensive ground operations,
including executions, kidnappings and indiscriminate attacks.[11]

Abuses against civilians perpetrated by opposition groups
have increased as foreign fighters have come into the country in greater
numbers and as extremist Islamist groups have become key players in the
fighting against the Syrian government. Jabhat al-Nusra, an armed extremist
group, announced its formation in January 2012 and publicly pledged its allegiance
to al-Qaeda’s Ayman al-Zawahiri in a YouTube video posted in April 2012.[12]
The extremist group Islamic State (also known as ISIS), announced its creation
in April 2013.[13] These
groups are responsible for systematic abuses
including the intentional targeting and abduction of civilians during military
operations.

In addition to attacks in Damascus, Damascus
Countryside, and Homs, armed groups opposed to the government also shelled the
villages of al-Zahraa and Nubul in the Aleppo countryside in what appeared to
be indiscriminate attacks. The villages, whose residents are Shia, have been under
siege since July 2012 and have been hit with improvised artillery locally
referred to as “hell’s cannon” and other locally produced
rockets.[14]

In addition to small arms, opposition groups in Syria have access to a wide array of
weapons, including Grad rockets, mortars, anti-tank guided missiles (Kornet
and Konkurs), anti-aircraft artillery cannons, and rocket launchers.[15]

Opposition groups have also fabricated and used various improvised explosive devices including car
bombs, rockets, mortars, grenades and landmines.[16]

Opposition groups began using car bombs and suicide bombers
in areas under government control to target security force members and
infrastructure in late 2012. In some attacks of this kind dozens of civilians
were reportedly killed or injured.[17] In
other cases, car bombs, suicide attacks, and improvised explosive devices in
government-held territory appeared to directly target civilians. The extremist
groups Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS claimed responsibility for some of these
attacks.

The rampant indiscriminate attacks causing numerous civilian
casualties by both Syrian government forces and armed groups opposed to the
government resulted in the UN Security Council on February 22, 2014 unanimously
passing Resolution 2139 ordering all parties to
the conflict in Syria to end the
indiscriminate use of weapons in populated areas.[18]

Jaramana

The city of Jaramana, located in Damascus Countryside
governorate, is 10 kilometers southeast of the capital. Armed groups opposed to
the government have not captured Jaramana but took over neighboring Mleha to
the east, Beit Sahm to the south, and Ain Terma to the north, as part of their
offensive on the area in 2012 and 2013 (see Section on Opposition Groups
below).

Since 2012, Jaramana, which historically has a predominately
Druze and Christian community, has had a large number of internally displaced
persons who have escaped fighting in other parts of the country. There is also
a significant minority of Iraqi refugees who have resided in the city since the
start of the 2003 Iraq war.

The head of the media office for the National Defense
Forces, a pro-government militia, in Jaramana told Human Rights Watch that
before the conflict 700,000 people were living in Jaramana but that since then
the population had risen to 1 million.[19]

Jaramana was never a site of active public protests against
the Syrian government, although some media reports state that the government
took steps to stop demonstrations from taking place there.[20]

Starting as early as spring 2012, anti-government armed
groups neighboring the city have periodically subjected Jamarana to artillery
shelling and car bombings. Human Rights Watch conducted on-site investigations
of six car bombings in Jaramana that caused civilian casualties. Human Rights
Watch also collected information on 11 other bombings all except one of which
reportedly caused civilian casualties and hundreds of artillery attacks that
appear to have indiscriminately caused civilians casualties. The car bombings
took place between April 2012 and April 2014, and the artillery attacks between
January 2013 and April 2014.

In November 2013 a doctor from the al-Radi Specialist
Hospital in Jaramana, one of the three main hospitals in the area, told Human
Rights Watch that between October 2012 and November 2013 he estimated100
civilians had been killed and were taken to the hospital and that over 1,200
injured were treated at the hospital with an estimated 90 percent of the
injuries and deaths resulting from explosions caused by shelling and car bombs.[21]
He said that, based on information received from activists in the city who were
documenting the attacks, around 2,600 mortar rounds had struck the area.

The Jaramana council also provided Human Rights Watch a list
of 11 people killed in IED attacks, 88 in car bombings, and 35 from mortars (134
total) between July 11, 2012 and May 16, 2013.[22]

Car Bombs

Human Rights Watch investigated six car bombings in Jaramana
between January 1, 2012 and April 30, 2014 that resulted in civilian fatalities
and injuries. In none of the six attacks did Human Rights Watch find evidence
of a military target at the time of the attack. The absence of a military
target renders an attack indiscriminate.

These bombings killed at least 121 civilians and injured
dozens more. The evidence compiled about the incidents was based on an on-site
investigation in which Human Rights Watch visited the sites of the explosions
and directly spoke to witnesses. In addition to the six cases, Human Rights
Watch collected information from publicly available sources including videos and
statements by local monitoring groups about an additional eleven bomb attacks
in Jaramana, but was not able to independently verify the information.

All of the bombings documented by Human Rights Watch
occurred in commercial and residential areas of Jaramana, including squares in
the center of the city, and in one case at a local cemetery during a burial.

In most cases, no group claimed responsibility for the car
bombings in Jaramana, although residents who spoke to Human Rights Watch
believed that armed groups opposed to the government were responsible for the
attacks. In one case, media reports stated that ISIS
claimed responsibility for a car bombing on July 25, 2013 in Swords Square in
Jaramana, which reportedly killed 17 people and injured over 30.[23] In another case, Jabhat
al-Nusra claimed responsibility for a bombing in Jaramana on October 19, 2013.[24]
Jabhat al-Nusra has claimed responsibility for numerous other car bombings in
Syria.[25]

August 28,
2012 Attack on Funeral

On August 28, 2012, a car bomb exploded in front of the
cemetery entrance in the Tishreen/al-Turbi neighborhood during a funeral,
according to two witnesses.[26] No
publicly available information indicates that any group claimed responsibility
for the bombing. Bassel, a witness to the bombing, told Human Rights Watch that
earlier in the day two civilians had been killed in mortar strikes on the city
and were being buried at about 2:30 p.m. when a car across the street from the
cemetery entrance exploded;

I was at the door of the cemetery…Lots of people were
standing next to the car that exploded… [Two men I know died in the
attack]. They were in their 30s. After the explosion I was hit in the back with
metal shrapnel… It [the car] parked there one hour before the explosion.
I parked next to it and saw that it was parked incorrectly, closing the street,
but I didn’t think about it.[27]

Daoud, another witness, told Human Rights Watch that a third
man he knew was also killed in the attack. He said that the individuals that
were killed were civilians and that no military targets were in the vicinity of
the explosion at the time of the attack.

Records obtained by Human Rights Watch from the Jaramana
council state that seven people were killed on August 28 in the al-Turbi
neighborhood from a car bombing: Samer Bassem Hamza, Deeb Sleim Masoud, Marah
Fadel Abduh, Imad Hasseeb Abu Raslan, Kamal Fareed Abd al-Salam, Amar Imad
al-Ghoutani, Melad Mansour Abu Dargham.[28] Alaa
Fayez Imad is reported as having died on August 30 from a car bombing in
al-Turbi. The Jaramana News Network, a local network reporting on events in
Jaramana, reported that the car bombing in al-Turbi on August 28 killed 12
people. Eight of those killed were adults. They include four of the men named
above, including Alaa, and Yasser Hussein, Amer Ghanem, Farah Fadel, Louay
Kashi. The four others were children: Farah Fadel, Karam Ghassan Mehio, Mazen
Hamza, and Muhannad Muhammad Aloulou.[29] Forty-eight
others, including children, were reportedly injured.[30]

September 3,
2012 Attack in al-Wahda Square

On September 3, 2012 at about
12:15 p.m., up to eight people were reportedly killed, including one or two
children, and 27 wounded in a car bombing near al-Wahde Square in Jaramana, according
to media reports, local monitoring groups and witnesses.[31] The Jaramana News Network reported that the dead
included Hani Abu Bakr, Lucabier Yacubian, Samaher al-Durra, Mazen al-Sahnawi,
Ayham Habash, Chantalle Awad (a child), and two unknown persons.[32] The Jaramana council recorded these fatalities except
for Ayham Habash, and also named Ghassib Mhanna and Alma Habash.[33]Based on publicly available information, no
armed group appears to have claimed responsibility for the bombing. Human Rights Watch visited the scene of the bombing in
November 2013 and spoke to three witnesses to the attack. Each said that all
the victims were civilians.

Ali, who lived nearby, said that he was on the street when
the car bomb exploded. Earlier, someone had located an improvised explosive
device (IED) at nearby al-Wahde Square
and government security forces had gone to dismantle it, he said. Later, a van
that was parked in front of his building exploded killing seven people,
including two children. He said,

Um Samer Habash was killed with her granddaughter in their
home. Hani Abu Bakr was killed and Mazen al-Sahnawi,
who was newly married, was also killed. There was also a woman and her
daughter, who was about 14, from Homs that were killed. They were standing on
the street and died right away…. One Christian person was also killed…
One of the men, Mazen was getting people off the street [because of the earlier
IED], otherwise the outcome would have been much worse.[34]

Ali told Human Rights Watch that his mother and some
neighbors were also injured in the explosion, and that some of those not
physically injured still suffered psychologically. “My son… is
really affected,” he said. “He is not speaking and really needs
some counseling and health services.”[35]

Carla, a woman who worked in a nearby store, told Human
Rights Watch that after the bomb went off, “I just heard the screaming.
My arms, legs, and chest were cut by the window glass. It was very fine
glass.”[36]

Karim, whose 42-year-old son was killed in the blast, told
Human Rights Watch he was nearby when the bomb exploded:

I was in my shop [about 100 meters from the explosion].
…People were saying there was an IED in the street [at the square]…
[My son] came and was looking to see what was going on. …His wife was
standing just over here next to the shop. … He went to the square and
closed off the street from the square. There were six kids standing in front of
the van that exploded and he told them to move. He was standing right in front
of the van when it exploded…The glass all broke within 50 to 100 meters
away.… [A]fter the explosion there was a huge cloud of smoke… He
was 42. He has a son who is 6-years-old and one who was 40-days-old…
Together…[he] and Hani cleared 60 people out of the area. … He told
this boy [standing next to me] to go back, which saved him.[37]

Area residents told Human Rights Watch that there were no
military targets in the vicinity of the attack. A video posted on YouTube on
September 3, 2012 shows some of the destruction caused by the bombing in the
residential neighborhood.[38]

October 29,
2012 Attack on Rawda Area

On October 29, 2012 at about
11:15 a.m., a car bomb explosion in the Rawda area of Jaramana killed and
injured dozens of people, according to witnesses.[39] Victims included a judge and the owner of a nearby
electrical store. Jaramana News Network reported the names of eight people
killed: Nazem Qablan, Ziyad Hatweek, Ghasan al-Yousef, Anwar al-Mashrafeh, Yasser
Saidu, Ranya Khanouf, Rana Salhab, and Qazqali al-Mustapha.[40] Seven of these people were identified as having been
killed in the records obtained by the Jaramana Council.[41] Witnesses who spoke to Human Rights Watch just over a
year later confirmed some of these fatalities.[42]

One resident, George, a local storeowner, told Human Rights
Watch that 17 people were killed in the explosion.[43]
Fadi, another resident, told Human Rights Watch that approximately 15 people
were killed in the bombing and 100 injured.[44]

To Human Rights Watch’s knowledge no armed group has
publicly claimed responsibility for the attack.

Human Rights Watch visited
the site of the explosion in November 2013 and spoke to four residents about
the bombing. The witnesses each said that all of the victims were civilians. None
knew of any military targets in the vicinity.

November 28,
2012 Attack on President’s Square

On November 28, 2012, at
least 66 people were reportedly killed and dozens more injured when two car
bombs exploded nearly a half-hour apart near the President’s Square, a
busy roundabout, in the eastern part of Jaramana.[45] People living next to the explosion site told Human
Rights Watch that they believed that more than 100 had been killed, but that it
had been impossible to identify all the casualties because of extensive
injuries. No organization has publicly claimed responsibility for the
bombing, to Human Rights Watch’s knowledge.

Local residents told Human
Rights Watch that they heard a loud explosion at around 7 a.m. Many people ran
to the site to help, Hani and other residents told Human Rights Watch. Among
them were his father, a retired army general, and his brother, who
had just passed his exam to become a pediatric surgeon. About 25 minutes later,
Hani heard a second explosion. When neither his father nor his brother answered
their phones, Hani ran out to search for them. He said,

I stumbled on a torn-off hand on the way. People closest to
the car were all in pieces. Then I saw my father’s body on the ground. It
was intact, but there was an injury – a hole – on the left side of
his chest. His leg was broken, sticking out at an angle. I tried to clean his
face and embraced him. I felt his last breath.[46]

Hani tried to take his
father’s body to a hospital in Jaramana, but the first two hospitals he
went to were full. He eventually discovered his brother’s body at the
third hospital.

Two other families told Human
Rights Watch that their sons had died in the same way: they ran out when they
heard the first explosion and were killed in the second. One was a 24-year-old
volunteer with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent.[47] The second was a 24-year-old law student.[48]

A video published on YouTube
shows damage to buildings and cars and pools of blood on the street resulting
from the bombings.[49]

Human Rights Watch visited
the site of the explosions in November 2013. Local residents said that the
first car that exploded had been parked in a narrow side street, which limited
the damage. The second car was parked in the roundabout, near the entrance to
the side street where a large crowd had gathered after the first explosion,
leading to the high number of casualties.

None of the witnesses knew of
any military target in the vicinity.

In a third explosion on
November 28, the Jaramana News Network reported that two men, Hossam Qazan and
Oussama al-Halabi, were killed when an IED placed in a parked car at the
entrance of the al-Qurayat neighborhood exploded.[50]

July 25, 2013
Attack on Swords Square

On July 25, 2013, a car bomb exploded
in Swords Square in Jaramana, killing 17 people and injuring over 30, according
to media reports.[51]A witness said about 65 people were injured
and over 20 cars were damaged, as well as nearby homes and businesses.[52]Maher, a store owner in the vicinity who was
present when the bomb exploded, told Human Rights Watch that based on what he
saw he thought around 13 people were killed in the attack, including four
children.[53]A video of the aftermath of the explosion taken by the
Jaramana News Network shows the car that exploded and a large group of people at
the site transporting several corpses from the area and assisting the injured.[54]

ISIS reportedly claimed
responsibility for the bombing.[55] Human Rights Watch’s research found no evidence
of any military target in the vicinity.

Several people in the vicinity of the explosion described
what happened when Human Rights Watch visited the site in November 2013. Imad
told Human Rights Watch: “I heard the sound of the explosion from my
house. The building shook. There was a lot of smoke and fire.”

We ran to the site after it [the explosion] happened…
The car was parked in front of a restaurant. There was a microbus passing by
and the people in it were killed…In the area there is a pharmacy and
doctor’s offices, and homes…The car was parked in front of a
vegetable store and a house owned by [a local family]… There is a falafel
and shawarma shop across the street that were destroyed.[56]

A member of the Jaramana council, said that the explosion
happened at 2:45 p.m. while he was standing nearby with three friends, Yousef
Badra, Adeb Safaya and Ayman Safaya, who all died in the explosion. He told
Human Rights Watch:

I was with friends in Martyrs Square… [T]he front of
the car [that exploded] was eight meters away… The explosion, I
can’t explain it. The building collapsed. It was a big explosion. There
was a cloud of dust and then the buildings fell… [My friend next to me,
his] leg flew. I thought it was my leg because my right leg was injured and I
was screaming “I want my leg.” There was fire all around… It
was red fire. Very hot… I was hit in the neck. My arms are still burned.
On my right leg I can’t feel below the knee but I can move it.[57]

Omar, a young man who worked in the area and was injured in
the attack, told Human Rights Watch that those killed included one person in a
nearby vegetable shop and another in a nearby liquor store.[58]
A nearby shop owner, Rasheed, told Human Rights Watch that a man and his
10-year-old son were among the dead.[59]

August 6, 2013
Attacks on Swords Square and Sabeel Neighborhood

On August 6, 2013, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan,
two separate car bombs exploded in Jaramana.

One exploded near Swords Square (also known as
Martyr’s Square), a populated civilian area in Jaramana.Videos after the attack show injured people
and bodies and remains of the dead being carried from the area, as well as a
raging fire slowly being extinguished by the fire brigade and residents.[60]

Just before the end of the day’s Ramadan fast on the
same day, another car bomb exploded in Jaramana’s Sabeel neighborhood, a
commercial area. Residents and a local monitoring group reported that at least
19 people were killed and that dozens more were injured.[61]

Human Rights Watch is not aware of any claim of
responsibility for either bombing. Human Rights Watch visited the site of the
bombing in Sabeel and spoke to four residents about the attack. Each told Human
Rights Watch the victims were all civilians.

Samih, the owner of a clothing store, described the Sabeel
bombing to Human Rights Watch, which killed an employee and her mother:

Hend Zakhour, 24, and her mother were sitting in the clothing
store…When the bomb went off Hend was standing with her mom at the door
and I was inside the shop. I looked for her. The explosion left no sign of her.
I was stuck inside for about 10 minutes because of the fire until a guy selling
water came and put the fire out. After that the fire truck came. In my store I
found [just her] hands.[62]

Samih described some of the other victims:

There was a girl, 4 or 5 years old, dead. One boy [from
Douma] who was not killed in the first explosion, he poured water over himself
to go and rescue people and then a second car that caught fire exploded and
killed him. Three cars exploded one right after the other after catching fire.
His death really affected me. He didn’t have to die. He wasn’t even
in the first explosion. He was trying to rescue a girl.[63]

Raghed Arabi, 18, Kinda Abu Hamdan, 10, Raed Fakih, and an
11-year-old Iraqi boy were also killed in the bombing, he said.[64]

Samer, another local shop owner told Human Rights Watch that
“there were a lot of people on the street” when the bomb exploded:

It was 6:45 p.m. exactly. I was sitting here watching the
clock…Everything just went black. I didn’t feel anything. The store
window broke, all the glass around shattered and hit me. I had to get 17
stiches… I went outside to find my cousin on my mother’s side. I
just saw pieces of people. … A bus was burning. My taxi was also hit.[65]

Among those killed were Mohammed Adeb Ghazzali and Alaa Abu
Hamdan, he said.[66]

Mariam, a relative of Wael al-Zaem, a father of three who
died in the bombing, told Human Rights Watch,

I heard on the TV that there was an explosion… When
he didn’t come home I went from hospital to hospital looking for him. I
found his body in al-Muwasat Hospital. I knew him from his feet, but the rest
of his body was completely unrecognizable…He was walking on his way back
from work— he works at a mobile phone store— to break the fast at
home.[67]

Other Bombings
in Jaramana

Human Rights Watch compiled information, but was not able to
independently investigate, 10 additional bombings that apparently caused
civilian deaths and injuries in Jaramana.

In one additional bombing, the first apparently taking place
in Jaramana, on April 12, 2012, an IED was reportedly placed in the car of
Zaher Tayba al-Far while it was parked on the main road in Jaramana opposite
the Rawda Square, killing al-Far, who is identified as a shabiha, or
member of a pro-government militia. There were no other reported
casualties.[68]

On August 8, 2012, an IED was reportedly placed in a residential
building on the road between Swords Square and Karam Hadeed Schools killing
Ibrahim al-Daraa, a retired officer, and resulting in significant damage to the
residential building.[69]

On August 27, 2012, an IED was reportedly placed in the car
of Afif al-Shami, who is identified as a citizen, near the Quineitra school in
the Beydar neighborhood, killing him.[70]

In a second bombing on August 27, an IED was reportedly
placed in the car of Saqr Ammar, who is identified as a young man and who is
apparently a civilian, near the al-Ma’wna hospital in the Karam al-Samadi
neighborhood, killing him.[71]

On August 28, near President’s Square, an IED was
reportedly placed in a military pickup truck injuring the driver and his
daughter, but not his wife and second daughter who were with them.[72]

On August 30, an IED reportedly placed in a car near the
Abeed Gas Station Roundabout exploded resulting in injuries, apparently to
civilians.[73]

On December 12, 2012, an IED
reportedly exploded at the entrance of the Quryat neighborhood near the Jaramana
mixed secondary school killing the driver of a military vehicle.[74] Fifteen minutes later an IED parked near the scene of
the first explosion exploded injuring several civilians.[75] Video posted on YouTube of the purported attacks
shows some of the destruction caused by the explosions.[76]

On February 9, 2013, a bomb reportedly exploded near Swords
Square in Jaramana killing two and injuring at least 12 others, including women
and children, apparently all civilians.[77]

On February 26, 2013, an IED that exploded at the
intersection of the main road and the municipality road resulted in injuries,
apparently to civilians.[78]

On September 3, 2013, a bomb went off in the al-Tawheed neighborhood
of Jaramana.[79] The
bomb reportedly killed six people identified by the Jaramana City Facebook page
as “innocent people:” Mazen al-Sehnawi, Samaher al-Dora, Alma
Habash, Hani Abu Bakr, Loom Saber Yacoubian, and Shantal Awad and injured about
30 others.[80]

On October 19, 2013, a suicide car bombing at a checkpoint
between Jaramana and neighboring Mleha reportedly caused approximately 30
fatalities, all combatants, and injured 15 civilians according to SANA, the
Syrian state news agency.[81] The
extremist Islamist group Jabhat al-Nusra claimed responsibility for the attack.[82]

Shelling of Civilian Areas

Human Rights Watch has collected information on hundreds of
mortar and artillery attacks on Jaramana city, dozens of them taking place in
October and November 2013 alone. These strikes hit at or near at least six
schools that were operational at the time, two hit aid and shelter facilities,
and four hit residential areas in central parts of the city.

According to the head of the media office for the National
Defense Forces (NDF) in Jaramana, the city has been shelled from Ain Terma to
the north, Mleha and Shabha to the east, and from Beit Sahm to the south.[83]
Based on the information available to him he believed that 60 mm, 82 mm, and
120 mm mortars were used to attack the city with locally produced shells.[84]
Statements from witnesses to the strikes and Human Rights Watch’s
observations of the strike sites, including an examination of the trajectory of
mortar shells based on the damage inflicted, support these assertions.

Armed groups opposing the
government have claimed that they were targeting shabiha, security
forces, government checkpoints, and other military targets in Jaramana (see
Section on Opposition Groups below).

The NDF media chief in Jaramana and a member of the Jaramana
council, both told Human Rights Watch that the Syrian army was present in woods
on the perimeter of Jaramana neighboring Ain Terma, Mleha, and Beit Sahm.[85]
Consistent with this, when Human Rights Watch visited Jaramana in November 2013
we observed no Syrian government artillery positions being used to shell
neighboring towns but could hear outgoing shelling from the perimeter of the
town.

The NDF headquarters was however present in Jaramana, and
the NDF media chief told Human Rights Watch it had been hit twice before
November 2013. A local monitoring group also reported that it was hit on
December 21, 2013.[86]

Statements by the armed opposition, reflected in some media
reports, that they were hitting shabiha targets were not accurate, Human
Rights Watch found. For example, on October 22,
2013 multiple mortar shells reportedly fell in Jaramana, including at the
entrance of Jaramana, hitting a number of schools including the Fayez al-Said
(also referred to as Fayez al-Mahmoud) school.[87] The attacks reportedly killed three civilians and
injured dozens of others including students. The same day al-Sham News, an
opposition media site, reported that that day several mortar shells were fired
onto shabiha strongholds in Jaramana resulting in “direct
hits.”[88]

A Day
in Jaramana – Shelling on November 4, 2013

On
November 4, 2013, one of the days that Human Rights Watch visited Jaramana,
at least 10 mortar
shells struck the city. Human Rights Watch visited all of the 10 sites that were attacked that
day, mapping their locations, assessing where possible the apparent direction
from which the attack originated, and documenting casualties. Human Rights Watch did not observe
any military targets in the areas struck, indicating that the attacks were
indiscriminate. The attacks killed two civilians, including a UN employee,
and injured several others.

The 10
mortar shells struck residential areas near a mosque, a shelter for
internally displaced people (IDPs), and a facility run by the Syrian Arab Red
Crescent. That day Human Rights Watch observed no Syrian military activity in
the city and was not able to identify any military targets near the impact
sites.

Weapon
remnants found at some of the impact sites indicate that 82 mm mortars were
used for the attacks. When it was possible to determine incoming direction
because the mortar had struck, for example, a wall, the impact marks
indicated that the rounds had come from the south or southeast from Beit Sahm
and Mleha, which were under the control of several opposition armed groups at
that time. Human Rights Watch was not able to establish whether all attacks
that day came from the same direction.

One victim
was an elderly woman, about 70, who was killed while on her veranda on Marcel
Street in the Baath neighborhood of Jaramana.[89] Human Rights Watch visited the
location and spoke to three residents who were present during the attack. The
residents told Human Rights Watch the shell struck at approximately 3:30 to 4
p.m., killing Um Nidal from the Arslan family who was injured in the head and
arm while sitting on her veranda.

A second
shell fell near the Nur Mosque in Jaramana killing Sami Essa and injuring
Sheikh Ghafran. Mohamed, the mosque caretaker who was present at the time of
the attack, told Human Rights Watch the strike took place at approximately 3
to 3:15 p.m. and that the shell fell just outside the mosque on the street.[90]

Human
Rights Watch also visited a shelter for IDPs that housed approximately 300
displaced people, primarily from Eastern Ghouta where two shells hit,
injuring one man, and two nearby apartment buildings where two other shells
struck.[91] A man whose apartment building was
struck told Human Rights Watch that one shell hit his home, another a field
behind his building, and a third a school approximately 150 meters away.[92]

Attacks on
Markets

On October 10, 2013 at about 4:30 p.m., two mortar shells
hit a market in a Jaramana neighborhood predominately inhabited by Iraqi
refugees. One of the shells exploded, killing at least 15 people and injuring
dozens of others. Zein, an Iraqi man who was present during the attack, told
Human Rights Watch: “I was standing about 20 meters from the hit…
Fifteen to 16 people were killed here. Twenty maybe. Thirty or more
wounded,” he said.[93] Local
media reported the following deaths in the attack: Behnam Mikhael Yuhanna
(Iraqi), Bashar Emil al-Khouri, Tamer Louis Shamoun (Iraqi), Talal Yousef Elias
(Iraqi), Raed Shakr Mahmoud, Shakr Ismail Mahmoud, Bassam Abd al-Karim, Farid
Yousef Aziz, and Ayad Iskander Yuhanna Qadur.[94]

Yasser, an Iraqi man wounded in the strike, told Human
Rights Watch:

I was sitting at the café playing backgammon [when]
two shells fell. One exploded, one did not. There were five or six of us
sitting at the table and four were killed: Abu Mustafa Talal, Abu Mamesh,
Shaker Ismail, Raed Shaker were all killed. Both of my legs were injured. I
have shrapnel in my knee. One Syrian guy with a car took me to the Jaramana
hospital and then I was taken to al-Muwasat Hospital… There was nothing
going on in the street before the attack.[95]

Fragmentation marks in the asphalt indicate that the mortar
round hit about 10 meters to the east of a five-story building. Witnesses
explained to Human Rights Watch they believed the shelling originated from the
east, from the direction of Mleha.

Attacks on
Residential Areas

Human Rights Watch has collected information on three
artillery attacks that struck homes and residential areas in Jaramana.

Bassma, a woman living in the Janaya neighborhood of
Jaramana, a residential area, told Human Rights Watch that she was injured in her
third-floor apartment when a mortar shell struck the veranda on July 4, 2013.[96]
She told Human Rights Watch,

It was about 10:30 p.m. We couldn’t see from the
smoke right after it happened. My son was in the bedroom and my husband just
here in the kitchen. He fell over from the pressure [of the explosion]. They
took me to the al-Radi [Specialist] Hospital first, then to al-Muwasat Hospital.
I had to have surgery and now I am doing physical therapy. I still have
problems with my knee. The mortar came from straight over there, the direction
of Mleha… We are in the beginning of Janaya neighborhood. We feel very
exposed here. There is no set time for the shelling.[97]

She said there were no military
targets in the vicinity of her home.

A neighbor, Talal, told Human Rights Watch that there had
been two other mortar strikes on the neighborhood in October 2013. One attack
on October 24 at about 11 a.m.may have
caused one death and injured two others. A second mortar shell landed in the
neighborhood on October 31, injuring one man, he said.[98]

Attacks on
Schools

Human Rights Watch has collected information on artillery
attacks that struck on or near six schools in Jaramana.

On October 31, 2013, several mortar shells fell near the
Haytham Abdel Salam School, killing at least two adults and an 11-year-old
girl, and injuring others. Human Rights Watch interviewed five victims and
witnesses, all of whom said that no military targets were in the area. Human
Rights Watch was not able to identify any military target in the vicinity when
researchers visited four days after the attack.

Ziyad told Human Rights Watch that when he heard in the
afternoon that a mortar shell had hit the school attended by his 11-year-old
daughter, Diana, he rushed there to pick her up. He said,

Just as we were leaving the school a [second] mortar hit
nearby so I, [Diana], another father and some other children hid in a nearby
shop. A third mortar fell right outside the shop, however. When I looked,
[Diana] was already dead from injuries to her stomach. The other father was
also dead and the three boys were injured.[99]

When Human Rights Watch spoke to Ziyad he was bedridden,
recovering from a broken jaw and fragmentation wounds to his neck and legs.

Human Rights Watch visited two children, ages 7 and 9, who
had been lightly injured in the attack. Imad, a local resident, told Human
Rights Watch that the school had also been struck twice before, two months
earlier and a year before, resulting in injuries. He said that at least some of
the mortar shells were coming from the direction of Mleha and that there were
no military targets in the vicinity of the school.[100]
Human Rights Watch also interviewed a relative of Kifah al-Masri and a
17-year-old boy who sustained a fragment injury to his eye in the same
incident.[101]

The principal of the Haytham Abdel Salam School told Human
Rights Watch that the attacks had severely affected the children’s’
education:

About eight mortars fell in the immediate vicinity that
day, but they have been falling for a long time. The teachers are afraid,
keeping the children who come inside. We are afraid to come to work. It is a
terrible responsibility. Many families have left or parents are keeping their
children at home.[102]

On October 22, 2013, a mortar shell hit an elementary school
near Wahde Square. An adjacent school was also struck, and a third mortar fell
just outside the two schools at approximately the same time. Fourteen children
were injured in the strikes. The principal of one of the schools, who was
present during the strike, told Human Rights Watch that the shells came from
the direction of Ain Terma.[103] She
said this was the first time her school was hit. “I sent the students in
early from recess,” she said. “If not, more would have been injured
[by the shell that fell on the awning in the courtyard] because they were
already starting to go inside.”[104]

A mortar round also hit the Jaramana Sports Club, which is
located close to three schools, on the afternoon of November 2, 2013. The
manager of the sports club told Human Rights Watch:

The mortar struck the office, which is often used by the
members as a meeting room, but luckily there were nobody there at the time.
There were about 30 children playing basketball in the courtyard just a few
meters away at the time, though. The mortar could have easily hit them instead
and they were very scared.[105]

The sports club manager told Human Rights Watch that about
15 mortar shells had hit the area in the course of two weeks in October and
November 2013. The mortar hit a south-facing wall, indicating that the mortar
likely came from the south, the direction of Beit Sahm. Remnants examined by
Human Rights Watch indicate that the sports club was hit by a 120 mm mortar.

Central Damascus and the Old City

Shelling Civilian Areas

Human Rights Watch has collected information on artillery
attacks on various neighborhoods in central Damascus and the old city of
Damascus including Qassa, Bab Sharki, and Bab Touma in which civilians were
killed between January 1, 2013 and April 30, 2014. These areas are all adjacent
to or are in close proximity to territory that were then held by armed groups
opposed to the government, including the towns of Jobar, Beit Sahm, Ain Terma,
Shabha, and Mleha. Nine of these strikes hit mixed commercial and residential
areas, four hit at or near a hospital, six hit at or near schools, school buses
and universities that were operational at the time, and two hit religious
sites.

Attacks on
Commercial and Residential Areas

Human Rights Watch has collected information about nine
artillery attacks on markets and mixed commercial and residential areas in
central Damascus and the old city of Damascus resulting in civilian fatalities
in mid to late 2013.

Residents told Human Rights Watch that two markets, al-Hal
and al-Hamidiya, were repeatedly struck by mortar shells from rebel-held Jobar
to the east.[106]

In an attack on al-Hamidiya market on November 14, 2013
between 11 a.m. and noon, two mortar shells struck, killing two people and
injuring at least five others.[107] Human
Rights Watch visited the site of the strikes and spoke to witnesses within
hours of the strikes. No military targets were apparent in the vicinity of the
strikes.

On November 13, shells also struck al-Hal market injuring
civilians. Human Rights Watch visited a 16 or 17-year-old who worked in the
market while he was in the hospital recovering from injuries. A relative spoke
about his injuries: “The doctors took shrapnel out of his feet and his
head. He can’t see in his right eye.”[108]
A relative of another person injured in the strike told Human Rights Watch:

He has shrapnel in his back. His leg is broken. There is
also shrapnel in his leg, stomach, and also in his eye. …He is 50 and
married with three kids…We don’t know if he will see again in his
left eye. Who will take care of his family now? The shells fell on the workers.
Today 15 shells fell…they destroyed us.[109]

A shelling of the market on November 12 resulted in
approximately 15 injuries according to Marc, whose relative was injured.[110]
In an attack on November 11 at least one man, a street sweeper, was killed
according to a worker who was also wounded in the attack.[111]

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based
Syrian monitoring group, reported that mortar shells fell in the al-Hal market
again on March 18, 2014, killing one civilian and injuring many more.[112]
Human Rights Watch was not able to independently verify the strike.

The entrance to Bab Touma, a mixed commercial and
residential area, had also been repeatedly shelled, according to local
residents. A government Military Intelligence checkpoint is located at the
entrance of the neighborhood to search vehicles, which may have been the target
of some of these attacks.

On November 13, 2013, a woman and her young daughter were
killed during a mortar attack as they were entering the neighborhood, according
to a nurse at the French Hospital where the bodies were taken.[113]
A member of Military Intelligence working at the checkpoint at the entrance of
Bab Touma told Human Rights Watch that two shells fell that day. The shell that
killed the mother and child also injured three other people. The second, about
100 meters away, struck a car and injured four men, he said.[114]

Human Rights Watch visited the site where the mother and
child were killed and observed the areas where the mortar shells struck, about
50 to 100 meters from the intelligence checkpoint, and bloodstains caused by
the attack.

The Military Intelligence officer said the shells had been
fired from Ain Terma and Jobar to the east and northeast. Human Rights Watch
observed that the car was hit by a mortar round that appeared to come from the
east, the direction in which Ain Terma is located.

A second Military Intelligence member working at the Bab
Touma checkpoint told Human Rights Watch that the entrance of the neighborhood
was also shelled on October 18, injuring two soldiers and killing a baby, and
on October 26, injuring one civilian man.[115] Human
Rights Watch could not verify these alleged civilian casualties.

In late August 2013, a shell hit a car near the Tower of
Heads Park, a mixed residential and commercial area, killing two civilians and
injuring from 25 to 30 others, according to local residents.[116]
A resident, Walid, told Human Rights Watch that the mortar attack happened at
approximately 7 p.m., hit a car, and caused the car and others to catch fire.[117]
“There were two men killed that I saw,” he told Human Rights Watch.
“They were burned all over and were hit with shrapnel.”[118]

Human Rights Watch visited the strike site on November 5.
Residents said there were no military targets in the vicinity at the time of
the attack.

Attacks on
Medical Facilities

Human Rights Watch has collected information about four
artillery attacks on or near medical facilities in central Damascus and the old
city of Damascus between October 6, 2013 and April 30, 2014.

On October 6, 2013, a mortar round struck kiosks in front of
the French Hospital in Qasaa, killing eight civilians, including five police
officers, and injuring at least five others, a local shop owner told Human
Rights Watch. He said those killed by the kiosks, and whose photos were on
display near the hospital, were Michael Habees, Rima Abdel Nur, and Riad
Yazigi. The police killed were passing by on the street.[119]

“It was 11 a.m. or noon. One mortar fell…from
the direction of Jobar. I was in my store,” he said. “They have
been shelling us for a year… The French hospital has been hit three
times.”[120]

Videos posted on YouTube also show artillery attacks
striking hospitals in the old city of Damascus. For example, videos show the
French Hospital being struck on February 18, 2013.[121]

Videos also show
the Tishreen Military Hospital in the Barzeh neighborhood being struck on
October 28, 2013 and July 3, 2013.[122]

Attacks on
Schools, Universities and School Buses

Human Rights Watch has collected information about six
artillery attacks on or near schools, universities and school buses in Damascus
between March 29, 2013 and April 29, 2014.

On April 29, 2014, two mortar shells struck the Badr el-Din
Hussaini educational complex in the al-Shaghour neighborhood of Damascus, a
pro-government area, according to a resident from the area who spoke to Human
Rights Watch and media reports. The resident, who was involved in the rescue
efforts after the strike, told Human Rights Watch that 17 children, all
approximately 13-years-old, were killed in the first mortar attack on the
school’s courtyard at approximately 9:30 a.m. The children were in the
courtyard during recess when the mortar shell hit the school, he said. He said
the second mortar, which fell 30 to 45 minutes after the first, killed an
additional two to three parents who came to pick up their children from the
school. He estimated that 50 people were injured in the attack based on what he
saw on the scene and later in a hospital where the wounded were taken.

The resident, who was near to the site when the first round
struck and at the school when the second hit, told Human Rights Watch that he
believed the mortar shells came from an area under the control of armed groups
in the Yarmouk camp to the south of al-Shaghour.[123]

A video posted by al-Akhabriya shows some of the damage
caused by the mortar attacks and some of the injured, including children.[124]
The pro-government al-Nazha and Akrama Homs News Network published on its
Facebook page the names of 14 people it said had been killed in the strike, and
said one additional person whose identity was not known had also been killed.[125]
The Facebook page Diary of a Mortar Shell identified 13 of these 14 people as
having been killed and published their names alongside photographs of 13
children, who it said were the victims.[126]

On November 11, 2013, one shell fell on a bus parked in
front of the Risali School in Bab Sharki, in the old city of Damascus, and a
second hit the outside wall of the school. A member of the Syrian National
Defense Forces told Human Rights Watch that five civilians were killed in the
strikes – three first graders and one third grader, along with their bus
driver – and 17 other children were injured.[127]
He said the shelling came from Ain Terma and Jobar.

Screenshot from a Syria TV news broadcast posted on YouTube
on November 15, 2013 showing the damaged school bus.[128]

Human Rights Watch visited the scene of the strikes and
observed where the mortars fell, confirming that they were coming from the
east. The school and bus were approximately 100 meters from the Bab Sharki gate
where the National Defense Forces had a checkpoint.

The pro-opposition news website All4Syria reported that,
while the government accused opposition groups in Eastern Ghouta of being
responsible for these strikes, the groups there have previously denied their
involvement in strikes on the area. They have alleged that the government is
striking areas where religious minorities reside to incite sectarian violence
and hatred.[129]

Human Rights Watch concluded from a visit to the scene of
the strikes based on the apparent trajectory of the strikes as evidenced in the
damaged pole and nearby wall surrounding the school that the mortar rounds
appeared to come from the east, the direction of Ain Terma.

On the same day, SANA, the Syrian state news agency,
reported that five other children were killed and 27 people wounded when mortar
rounds struck the St. John of Damascus School.[130]
Human Rights Watch was not able to verify the information.

Videos posted on YouTube and media reports indicate other artillery
attacks striking schools and universities in Damascus. Citing SANA, CNN
reported that on March 29, 2013, mortar fire hit the University of Damascus
killing 10 people and wounding 29 others.[131] The Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights reported that on April 10, 2014, three mortar
shells fell on the Kniset al-Salib area, al-Ma’ouna school and a-Faransi
hospital in the al-Qassa’ area, killing one police officer and injuring several
others.[132]
SANA reported that three mortar shells hit the outskirts of the Dar al-Salam School
in Damascus on April 21, 2014, killing two civilians and wounding 36 others.[133]

Attacks on
Religious Sites

Human Rights Watch documented an artillery attack on the Mar
Sarkis church in the old city of Damascus on August 26, 2013 at approximately
3:30-4:30 p.m. Three mortar shells struck the church and surrounding area in
Bab Sharki, killing Hagop Kevork Sirkisian, a 45-year-old church caretaker and
father of three, and a local coffee seller, Oussama al-Nasr, and injuring
approximately 20 people.[134]

Sirkisian’s relatives told Human Rights Watch that
Sirkisian went to the Mar Sarkis Church after it was hit by the first mortar
shell to see what was happening. A man injured in the attack told them that
Sirkisian was killed when a second mortar shell hit the church.[135]

One of the relatives told Human Rights Watch,

They were about to leave and the second shell fell. It hit
him. It was a hard hit, and he and the guy with him, they ran outside. They
thought he was okay but then he fell. They found a car and took him to the
Intensive Care Unit…he was hit in the back and the neck.[136]

Press TV, an Iranian TV station and website, also reported
that on November 29, 2013 mortars hit the nearby Umayyad Mosque in the
al-Hamadiya market killing four people and injuring 26 others.[137]
Human Rights Watch was not able to verify the information.

As documented above, between
January 1, 2013 and April 30, 2014, opposition armed groups in control of
Jobar, Beit Sahm, Ain Terma, Shabha, and Mleha in Damascus Countryside
regularly shelled areas under government control in Jaramana and Central
Damascus, including by carrying out indiscriminate attacks that resulted in
civilian casualties. Human Rights Watch was unable to determine the specific
group responsible for each shelling incident investigated. However Human Rights
Watch was able to identify the groups that were conducting such operations
during the time period covered.

Free Syrian Army

The Free Syrian Army (FSA) moniker was originally used to
identify defectors from the Syrian security forces and army. The FSA later
became the military umbrella backed by the National Coalition for Syrian
Opposition and Revolutionary Forces, which was formed in November 2012. Groups
identifying themselves as members of the FSA began operating under the
leadership of the 30-person Supreme Military Council in December 2012.[138]
The first commander of the Supreme Military Council was Brig. Gen. Salim Idris.[139]
The Supreme Military Council, led since February 16, 2014 by Abdullah al-Bashir
remains a loose coalition of groups based around the country, and lacks a
strong central command structure.[140]

FSA groups have made numerous announcements reflecting their
repeated shelling of targets or areas in Jaramana. In May 2013, the FSA issued
statements that they were shelling army outposts in and around Jaramana.[141]
They issued similar statements in October 2013, including on October 21 and 23
when the FSA and Liwa’ Der` al-`Asimah, The Shield of the Capital
Battalion, claimed responsibility for shelling Jaramana, saying they were
targeting government security checkpoints.[142]
Notably, the Violations Documentation Center, a local monitoring group,
identified three civilians killed in shelling on Jaramana on October 23, 2013.[143]

The FSA also issued statements that it repeatedly struck
central Damascus including on several dates in 2013: July 14, August 15,
September 29, October 9, and November 6.[144] In
some instances, the FSA said explicitly it was aiming for military targets,
such as the Air Force Intelligence building in Abbasid.
In other instances, FSA groups, including Liwa Habib al-Mustafa, claimed
responsibility for shelling civilian objects such as the Central Bank in Sabaa
Bahrat Square on October 9, 2013.[145] Such
claims are evidence of deliberate attacks on civilian objects.

In a video posted on YouTube
on August 19, 2013, a fighter from al-Fastat Al-Muslimeen Brigade, a group that
is part of the Free Syrian Army, is seen firing an M79 Osa anti-tank rocket launcher,
claiming to target the office of the president of the civil defense forces in
Abbasid Square, a civilian object.[146]

Local residents and witnesses interviewed by Human Rights
Watch said that based on the direction from which the shelling was coming, they
believed the attacks on central Damascus were coming from Jobar, Ain Terma,
Mleha and Shabha, territory held by opposition groups.

Multiple reports indicate the Free Syrian Army was active in
these areas between January 2013 and April 2014. The table below summarizes
some of the information gathered by Human Rights Watch based on YouTube videos
posted by armed groups themselves regarding Free Syrian Army groups that were
active in Jobar, Mleha, Ain Terma, and Shabha in 2013 through April 2014. Human
Rights Watch is unable to tie specific groups to specific unlawful strikes.

August 6, 2013, targeting of buildings at
the Jobar front, claimed to be “occupied by security and shabiha,”
with improvised artillery[150]

al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar Brigade

August 11, 2013, firing a mortar from Jobar;[151]
August 7, 2013, firing a mortar allegedly targeting security buildings on the
Jobar/Abbasid front;[152]
August 19, 2013, mortars being fired in the direction of the
‘communications building’ in the Abbasid area.[153]

Farouq al-Sham Battalion, the group united
with several battalions on November 20, 2013, under the banner of Al-Hurriyah
wal-Karamah Brigade.[155]

Active in Jobar as early as February 16,
2013;[156]
striking Abbasid Square just outside of the neighborhood, including with
improvised weapons, such as an improvised grenade launcher on February 8,
2013,[157]
an improvised rocket launcher on July 12, 2013,[158]
and another improvised rocket launcher on December 2, 2013.[159]

Active in Jobar as early as September 2013;[161]
September 27, 2013, firing improvised mortars, apparently trying to target
the Air Force Intelligence building in Abbasid and “shabiha”[162]

The Islamic Front

The Islamic Front was established
in November 2013 by seven Islamist groups in Syria: Harakat Ahrar al-Sham
al-Islamiyya (Ahrar al-Sham), Jaish al-Islam, Suqour al-Sham, Liwa al-Tawhid,
Liwa al-Haq, Ansar al-Sham and the Kurdish Islamic Front.[163] The coalition was led by Hassan Abboud until his
death on September 9, 2014.[164] Of these Ahrar al-Sham and Jaish al-Islam have been
the most active in Damascus and Damascus Countryside including in Jobar and
Mleha.

Jaish al-Islam, formed on September
29, 2013 in Eastern Ghouta and led by Zahran Alloush, was active in
taking Jobar from government forces and remained active in Jobar throughout the
period covered in this report.[165] Jaish al-Islam also
participated in the operation to take the Thameco compound in Mleha in October
2013.[166]

Ahrar Al-Sham, formed on
November 11, 2011 and led by Hassan Abboud until his death and then by Abu
Jaber, has also been active in Jobar.[167] Ahrar al-Sham was also a member of the Jund al-Malahem Operations Room, which was active in
taking over the Thameco plant in October 2013 in Mleha, and which announced in
a videotaped statement that Jaramana would be their next target.[168]

Jabhat al-Nusra

On March 23 and April 3, 2013, Jabhat al-Nusra issued
statements that they shelled Jaramana, targeting shabiha and security
forces.[169]

The group was also a member
of the Jund al-Malahem Operations Room
that was active in taking over the Thameco plant in October 2013 in Mleha, and
which announced in a videotaped statement that Jaramana would be their next
target.[170]

Sayida Zeinab, Shelling of Religious Sites

Human
Rights Watch visited the Sayida Zeinab mosque in Sayida Zeinab, Damascus
Countryside in November 2013. The shrine, believed to be the tomb of Zeinab,
the granddaughter of the Prophet Mohammed, is an important pilgrimage site
for Shia Muslims. Local residents and members of Hezbollah who were providing
security at the mosque told Human Rights Watch that the mosque had been
repeatedly struck by opposition armed groups. One member of Hezbollah posted
nearby told Human Rights Watch the shells were coming from Hajeyra, Yelda,
and Gharbieh.[171] Human Rights Watch observed that
the mosque’s south minaret had been hit by a shell coming from the
west.

In two
mortar attacks on the mosque on November 7, 2013, 45 people in the mosque
courtyard were injured according to a doctor at the al-Mujtahid hospital who
received the wounded.[172] Human Rights Watch spoke to a
16-year-old girl who was injured in the strike while she was recovering from
her wounds in the hospital. She said that the mosque was shelled at
approximately 4 p.m.

“We
were standing in the courtyard in the area in front of the woman’s
entrance into the mosque,” she said. “It was me and my cousins
and we were on our way home when the shell came. Lots of people around me
were injured. The courtyard was full of people.”[173]

An adult
relative of the girl told Human Rights Watch that 12 girls in total had been
injured, many from the same family.[174]

The
Hezbollah member who spoke to Human Rights Watch in early November 2013 said
that the mosque had been shelled 15 times, he believed deliberately.[175] In one shelling attack, on July
29, 2013, Anas Roumani, the mosque’s caretaker, was killed.[176]

Multiple
videos and reports including those posted by the Islamic Front show their
repeated shelling of Sayida Zeinab, including by Jaish al-Islam.[177]

Reports
also indicate that the FSA has been shelling the area, claiming to strike
military targets, including in April and November 2013.[178]
On October 11, 2013, a video posted on YouTube shows Liwa` Sham Al-Rasoul,
formed on April 1, 2013, under the leadership of Maghaweer As-Sham, an FSA
group, firing a locally produced improvised mortar, claiming to target Abu
Fadel al-Abbas Brigade, a pro-government militia, at the Sayida Zeinab
mosque.[179]
On October 27, 2013, another video was posted by the same group showing shelling
of Sayida Zeinab with an improvised mortar.[180]

Jabhat
al-Nusra has also repeatedly shelled the area including on March 19, 2013, March
25, 2013, March 30, 2013, and November 14, 2013.[181]
In March 2013 Jabhat al-Nusra also published several claims of responsibility
for explosions in the neighborhood of Sayida Zeinab targeting shabiha and
al-rawafid, a term used to refer to Shias in a derogatory way.[182]

Hijaz Train Station, Improvised Explosive Devices

Central
Damascus has also been subject to car bombings and attacks with other
improvised explosive devices by opposition armed groups. In some cases these
explosions have detonated in populated civilian areas, causing indiscriminate
civilian casualties. On November 6, 2013 a device exploded on the steps in
front of the Hijaz train station at approximately 1 p.m. according to Tarek,
a nearby shop owner.[183] Mouawad, who works in a store near
the station, told Human Rights Watch that the bomb injured approximately 40
people. He saw the injured on the sidewalk. “Lots of people on the
ground, maybe 10, were not moving,” he said.[184] An administrator at the
al-Mujtahid hospital, where the dead
and injured were taken, told Human Rights Watch that 10 people were killed
and 41 injured in the attack.[185] He said that nine children were
among the injured and that one child died.[186] He said the injuries were caused
by a bomb with metal fragments in it, based on what he observed.

One of the
injured men, Wajih, a 39-year-old worker who was cleaning the station’s
façade, said that three of his co-workers were killed and two others
injured along with him.[187]

On
November 6, SANA reported that the bomb blast at the station killed eight
people, including two women and injured dozens more.[188]

IV. Unlawful Attacks in Homs

Background: The Battle for Homs

Anti-government protests erupted in Homs weeks after the
uprising began in the southern city of Daraa in mid-March 2011. By the end of
April, thousands of residents were taking to the streets despite security
forces and government-supported militias violently attacking and dispersing
peaceful protests.[189] The
crackdown left dozens dead. By May 2011, tanks were being sent to Homs
governorate to suppress dissent.[190]

Opposition supporters in Homs began to take up arms and
fierce street battles ensued between newly formed opposition brigades and
government security personnel. As the opposition fighters began taking over
several districts, including the southwestern neighborhood of Baba Amr, the
Syrian military began launching counter offensives. On February 4, 2012, the
military launched an offensive on Baba Amr and subjected it to a month of
relentless bombardment in which it deliberately and indiscriminately targeted
civilians with heavy weapons that left Baba Amr destroyed and deserted.[191]
An estimated 700 people were killed as civilians bore the brunt of the assault.[192]

By June 2012, the government had laid siege to areas in Homs
under opposition control, denying the population access to food and medical
supplies, and subjecting them to frequent bombardment by artillery and
aircraft. Then in 2013 the government launched major offensives to consolidate
its control over the parts of Homs city they still held, and backed by
Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia militia, in July 2013 the government captured the
neighborhood of Khalidiya.[193]

By late January 2014, the Old City neighborhood in Homs was
still held by the opposition, where up to 3,000 civilians were believed to have
been trapped without access to food and medical supplies and under repeated
bombardment since June 2012. A UN-brokered temporary ceasefire was reached in
February 2014, allowing the evacuation of non-combatants and some deliveries of
humanitarian aid to those who chose to remain in the neighborhood.[194]

At the time of writing, the predominately Sunni neighborhood
of al-Waer, just two kilometers away from the Old City neighborhood, and the
only remaining neighborhood in rebel control, has been under siege and subject
to attack by Syrian government forces since negotiations with opposition armed
groups there faltered in January 2015.[195]

In 2013, amid the Syrian government’s consolidation
efforts in Homs, opposition armed groups, operating from both inside and
outside the city increasingly attacked neighborhoods controlled by the
government. Areas home to religious minorities viewed as supporting the
government, and particularly Alawites, were often targeted for attack.

Unlawful Attacks on Government-Held Areas in Homs

Human Rights Watch has collected evidence of many mortar
attacks since January 2013 and car bombs and other explosions since January
2012 that have killed civilians in Homs neighborhoods under government control,
particularly neighborhoods with predominantly Alawite populations. Any such
attacks that do not target military objectives are unlawful.

Based on witness statements and investigations of damage
sites, Human Rights Watch concluded that all of these attacks originated in
territory held by opposition armed groups.

Human Rights Watch visited al-Zahra, Akrama, and al-Nazha
and has documented three car bombings in these areas with no apparent military
targets in the vicinity at the time of the attacks. Human Rights Watch also
collected information on dozens of artillery attacks resulting in civilian
fatalities and injuries in these areas.

Akrama, al-Nazha, and al-Zahra are mostly Alawite
neighborhoods, with a small number of Sunni and Christian residents. Many Sunni
families as well as others have left these neighborhoods reportedly because of
rising sectarianism and insecurity.[196] During
the period of attacks covered in the report, these neighborhoods were in close
proximity to areas controlled by opposition armed groups.

Media
sources have reported that the Akrama and al-Zahra neighborhoods and other
“Pro-Assad” neighborhoods have been used by government forces to
launch attacks against rebel held areas.[197] In some cases
media described them as strongholds for pro-government militias, or shabiha.[198] Government
forces and pro-government militias may have placed residents at unnecessary
risk of attack by launching attacks from these areas. However this would have
not justified opposition armed group attacks that were indiscriminate or caused
disproportionate civilian casualties.

The head of the police station in Bab Sba`, Homs,
responsible for several neighborhoods including Akrama, al-Zahra, Nazha, Wadi
Dehab, Arman, and Qdawya told Human Rights Watch in November 2013 that seven
car bombs had exploded in the area before then, and that there had been three
explosions caused by improvised explosive devices.[199]

He also said that approximately 70 to 80 civilians had been
killed because of the shelling.[200] He
said that the shelling originated in al-Warsha, Bab Hud, Sufsafa, Bab
al-Turkman, and Bab Tadmour, areas under the control of opposition groups at
the time.[201] A
member of Military Intelligence in Homs who spoke to Human Rights Watch said
that the shells hitting the city were often locally produced mortars.[202]

Human Rights Watch documented a car bombing in Thabtieh, a
small Shia village in Homs countryside, on November 4, 2013, that residents
believe was targeted solely because its inhabitants are Shia and are therefore
perceived to be government supporters.

Jabhat al-Nusra has claimed responsibility for numerous lethal
car bombings in Homs and elsewhere that had no apparent military target. Six
Jabhat al-Nusra statements in 2013-2014 obtained by Human Rights Watch claim
responsibility for car bombings or other explosions in Homs.[203]

A mediator involved in negotiations between the government
and armed groups based in the Old City of Homs told Human Rights Watch in April
2014 that certain armed groups there have openly threatened to target
pro-government or Alawite areas in Homs to pressure the government to allow
food into the Old City, which remained under siege. The negotiator said that in
one exchange that April, opposition fighters sought to negotiate safe passage
of food into the Old City in exchange for information about where they had
placed a car bomb in an Alawite area.[204]

The government’s siege tactics, including in the Old City of Homs, often
use starvation as a weapon of war or otherwise block humanitarian aid –
all serious laws-of-war violations that amount to war crimes.[205]
However, such violations do not permit indiscriminate attacks by opposition
groups against civilians in reprisal or as a means to pressure government
forces to allow humanitarian aid. Whatever their purpose, such attacks are likewise
war crimes.

Car Bombs on Akrama, al-Zahra, and al-Nazha

July 8, 2013 Twin car bombs on Hadara Street in Akrama

On July 8,
2013, two car bombs exploded on Hadara Street in Akrama, a popular commercial
street, killing at least six civilians and injuring approximately 40 more.[206]

Human Rights Watch visited the scene of the bombings that
November and spoke to local residents and business owners, some of whom were
injured in the attack. Hussein, a local shop owner, told Human Rights Watch he
was in his shop, several meters from where the first car exploded at around
3:30 p.m. that day and that he and others in his shop were injured. He said,

I was in the store. My knees were injured in the attack. I
was hit with shrapnel of fine glass from the broken window and glass in the
shop. I had customers who were also injured. We were four people in the store
and were all injured. I wasn’t paying attention to the car. It just went
off. It was less than a second. It was just the shock and then the fire. We had
to treat ourselves.[207]

He also said that a 19-year-old girl, who was celebrating
her birthday at a restaurant next door, and was standing on the street when the
bomb exploded, was killed. “There was blood everywhere,” he said.[208]

The second explosion, which happened minutes later near an
intersection with a traffic light on Hadara Street about 200-300 meters away,
killed at least another five civilians according to local residents.[209]

Those killed were Zulficar Ali, a baccalaureate student;
Mohammed Abaydow; Tony Sara, a university professor; a 10-year-old boy; and
Hanady Mohammed Rida, a fourth year civil engineering student.[210]

The site of the bombings, which Human Rights Watch
inspected, was a busy commercial area. Witnesses said there were no military
targets in the vicinity at the time of the attack.

In an earlier incident, on February 28, 2013, a car bombing
was reported in Akrama near the Teshrin pool and Sahara complex that killed
from one to five people and injured 24 others.[211]

October 24, 2013 Car Bomb attack on al-Nazha Square

About 12:30 p.m. on October 24, 2013, a car bomb exploded on
al-Ahram Street near the al-Nazha Square, killing at least three people and
injuring dozens, according to local shop owners.[212] One local shop owner told Human
Rights Watch that he had been sitting outside his shop when the bomb exploded,
injuring his left eye, which was still bandaged when he spoke to Human Rights
Watch.

The shop
owner said that three people, including a 70-year-old man, were killed in the
blast.[213] Jabhat al-Nusra claimed
responsibility for the incident, saying that it was a reaction to government attacks
against Sunni neighborhoods.[214] A video posted on YouTube shows the aftermath of the
explosion including some of the cars and storefronts damaged by the blast.[215]

April 29, 2014
TwinCar Bomb Attack on al-Zahra

On April 29, two car bombs detonated in al-Zahra, a
predominately Alawite neighborhood. A video published by al-Akhabriya, a
pro-government news agency, shows some of the resulting destruction including
some of the nearby buildings and cars that caught fire and were damaged, and
civilians fleeing.[216] Jabhat
al-Nusra released a statement on April 30 claiming responsibility for the
bombings.[217]

Ahmad, a neighborhood resident, told Human Rights Watch by
phone that he heard the first car bomb detonate at 1:15 p.m., and the second
bomb minutes later. He said the cars were parked near Abbasiyya Square, a
popular commercial area. He estimated that the nearest military object, an army
checkpoint, was 1.5 kilometers away.[218]

A hospital administrator told Human Rights Watch on April 30
that based on information gathered from the two hospitals where first
responders were sending the casualties, the death toll was 55 and 130 people
had been wounded.[219] Children were
among the dead.[220] Salah, another resident, was on the scene rescuing the wounded from the first
blast. He told Human Rights Watch that a second blast occurred 10 minutes later:

I was about 6 to 7 meters from the second explosion. All I
could see was smoke and fire. My brother was with me and we tried to pull each
other out. I don’t know who took me to the hospital. Two guys ran away
from me from fear of all the blood on me. I have shrapnel injuries all over my
body. Some are serious … I saw limbs from other victims…Some people
even 70 meters away were injured. Some people that were watching on their
balconies, children were killed…. The explosions took place at a time
when children were leaving school and university students were walking around.
There is also a famous market in the area and there were shoppers.[221]

In an earlier incident, on March 17, Lebanese media and
pro-government Syrian news outlets al-Akhabriya and SAMA TV reported that
a car bomb had exploded in al-Zahra, killing and injuring civilians.[223] A
SAMA TV broadcast posted on YouTube shows some of the destruction from the
blast including damaged and burning cars, the emergency response, and an
injured man.[224] Jabhat
al-Nusra claimed responsibility for the March 17 strikes, and estimated that dozens
of people were killed and injured.[225]

Akrama has also been
subjected to repeated car bombings. On April 14, 2014, SANA reported that
a car bombing in Akrama killed four people and injured 30. Videos showing the
aftermath corroborated the attack.[226]

Mortar and Rocket Attacks on Civilian Areas

Human Rights Watch has collected information about dozens of
attacks on residential and commercial areas in Akrama, al-Zahra and Bab Sba`
between January 1, 2013 and April 30, 2014. Most of the attacks documented by
Human Rights Watch in Homs were rocket attacks. Remnants from some of the
attacks examined by Human Rights Watch indicate that Grad rockets were used. Where
it was possible to establish the direction of fire by examining the damage
site, the rocket attacks in Akrama appeared to be from the north-west. Local
residents said that artillery shells appeared to come from the direction of the
Old City of Homs and rockets from Talbiseh, areas then under the control of
opposition armed groups.[227] The
head of the police station in Bab Sba` told Human Rights Watch that the
shelling originated in al-Warsha, Bab Hud, Sufsafa, Bab al-Turkman, and Bab
Tadmour, areas under the control of opposition armed groups at the time.[228]
In none of the cases investigated, did any group claim responsibility.

Mapping out the attacks, Human Rights Watch was not able to
detect any particular pattern or identify any specific targets of the attacks.
The use of mortars and other artillery with wide-area effects or unguided
rockets in populated areas invariably raises grave concerns of indiscriminate
or disproportionate attacks against civilians, even if the presence of a
military objective could be demonstrated.

Attacks on Commercial and Residential Areas

On January 22, 2013, three mortar shells hit an intersection
in Bab Sba`, killing two civilians, including a 17-year-old, and wounding
several others. Fareed, who lost both his legs in the attack, told Human Rights
Watch that he had been walking down the street when he heard the first shell
hit. He and others ran to the site to help the injured when the second round
struck. He said that four other people lost both of their legs in the attack.[229]
Human Rights Watch found that the mortar shells had hit the northeastern corner
of a building, suggesting they were fired from that direction.

About 6 p.m. on June 5, 2013, two rockets hit residential
buildings in Akrama, killing a 5-year-old girl and injuring five others, according
to local residents. One rocket hit the second floor of the Ali family home,
killing their daughter Mona. Mona’s mother told Human Rights Watch:

Mona was just finishing kindergarten and preparing to start
school. We were talking about buying school supplies the following day. I
don’t remember what happened, but when I woke up I was in the hospital
and they told me that Mona had died.[230]

The Ali family showed Human Rights Watch a remnant of the
rocket, which they found in the destroyed apartment after the attack. Human
Rights Watch identified the remnant, a deformed circular metal
“plate” with seven venturi holes, as a part of the nozzle assembly
of a Grad rocket.

About 6 p.m. on July 30, 2013, a rocket hit a residential building
on Tulaytleh Street in Akrama. Nobody was injured. Faris, the owner of an
apartment in the building that was hit, who had previously served in the
military, told Human Rights Watch that he found remnants of a Grad rocket after
the attack.[231]

On August 23, 2013, five rockets hit a residential area on
Balansia Street behind a local hospital in Akrama, according to local
residents. Nobody was injured. Faris’ home was among those hit and he
showed Human Rights Watch two tube-like remnants and marks on the roof that
indicated that the rockets had come from the north-west.[232]
Based on the diameter of the tubes and the flower blossom deformation of the
end of the tube, Human Rights Watch identified the remnants as belonging to a
Grad rocket.

About 1 a.m. on September 9, 2013, a rocket hit the Mohammad
family’s apartment on the second floor of a building in a residential
area in Akrama, instantly killing the 40-year-old mother of the family and
injuring other family members. Hady, one of the injured relatives, told Human
Rights Watch,

I was watching TV, my daughter was playing on the computer
and my wife was sitting on the floor in the middle of the room when the rocket
hit. I was conscious, shouting, but I couldn’t move because of the debris
on top of me.[233]

Hady suffered a broken hip, hand and leg. His 9-year-old son
suffered a severe injury to his head, and his 28-year-old daughter suffered
from fragment injuries to her back, which also destroyed parts of her muscles
on her left upper arm. The wall that was hit faces north-west, suggesting the
rocket came from that direction.

On September 29, 2013, a rocket struck an apartment in a
residential building in the Akrama neighborhood, injuring some people on the
street, according to Nadim, the apartment owner, and members of his family.[234]
Nadim told Human Rights Watch that his mother and father were in an interior
room and that one of the walls fell on his mother, but that she was not
seriously hurt.[235] The
wall that was hit faces north-west.

On October 6, 2013, a mortar shell struck a street in
Akrama, damaging a car, and badly injuring the driver and his son, according to
local residents.[236]

About 5:45 p.m. on October 12, a rocket hit a residential
building on the al-Nibras street in the Bab Sba` neighborhood, killing three
and injuring seven, according to local residents and the brother of one of
those killed.[237] Among
those wounded were three sisters aged between 14 and 18, one of whom lost her
leg in the attack. Neighbors showed Human Rights Watch photographs of the
remnants of what appeared to be a Grad rocket. Human Rights Watch confirmed
that the balconies on the building showed signs of damage consistent with the
account. The building was hit on the wall facing north-west.

A local resident told Human Rights Watch that a shell
exploded in front of his home at about 6:15 p.m. in the Akrama Park in late
October 2013, injuring children.[238]

Attacks on Schools

Human Rights Watch has collected information on five mortar
attacks striking schools or near to schools in al-Zahra and Akrama between
January 1, 2013 and April 30, 2014.

On March 19, 2013, a mortar shell hit the street on the
north-east corner of the Nidal al-Arabi school in al-Zahra, killing four boys
aged between 10 and 16 and severely injuring a fifth.[239]
Ousama, 12, the boy who was wounded in the attack, told Human Rights Watch:

I was with my friend Khalil. On that day we went to play
outside the school, just as we usually do, but then I don’t remember
anything else. When I woke up the next day I was in the hospital and I found
out that four kids including Khalil had been killed.[240]

Ousama sustained serious injuries to his head and stomach
and showed Human Rights Watch scars from fragmentation injuries on his stomach
that were still visible 10 months after the incident.

On May 27 or 28, 2013 at about 7:30 p.m. three rockets or
artillery shells struck near to or in the garden of the Qutaybeh school in the
Jaber Domat neighborhood. Fayez, who works in the nearby al-Zaem hospital told
Human Rights Watch that a man and his fiancé wounded in the strike were
brought to the hospital. “The guy died right away and the girl after 30
minutes,” he said. “Her entire right side was gone. Her body was
full of shrapnel. The guy was completely gone, his whole body.” He said
that another man also lost his arm in the attack.[241]

Hamed who lived nearby, said that his son was standing in
front of the door to the house when another rocket or artillery shell struck
the road and injured him. He said that the caretaker of the garden was also
injured.[242]

In Akrama, the principal of Akrama al-Makhzoumi school told
Human Rights Watch that the school was shelled on July 8, 2013 with mortar fire
that came from the north, from the direction of the Old City of Homs, an area
then under the control of opposition armed groups.[243]
The previous day a mortar shell hit the school’s outer wall. Human Rights
Watch visited the school and observed the damage caused by the mortar attacks.
The principal said no one was injured in the attacks.

The principal told Human Rights Watch that earlier shelling,
on May 19, 2013, killed Ali Omar, a sixth grade student. “They were
gathering their books after the last day of exams,” she said. “They
did a celebratory dance and song, and 30 minutes later he was killed on his way
home…his house is 200 meters from the school.”[244]

At about 1:45 p.m. on October 17, 2013 three shells
detonated at an intersection by the Sayida Ruqaya School in al-Zahra, killing
two people and injuring others, local residents said.[245]

One of the mortar shells killed Shahera Khaddour, 65, and
injured her 2-year-old grandchild, according to the toddler’s mother.[246]
A second mortar shell killed 16-year-old Zein al-Ali. Human Rights Watch
visited the site and observed apparent fragmentation marks in the asphalt. At
the time of the visit the area was full of children.

One man who was injured in the mortar attack told Human Rights
Watch: “I was standing on the corner across from the school when the
shell fell. I was injured in both of my legs with shrapnel from a small mortar.
My son was also injured.”[247] The
man told Human Rights Watch that 14 people were injured in the attack and that
shells had fallen on the school multiple times before the October 17 attack.

V. Opposition Groups Conducting Attacks in Homs

In Homs governorate in central
Syria, opposition armed groups, while holding less territory than in Damascus,
in 2013 used their positions there to shell government-held territory, at times
indiscriminately. Human Rights Watch is unable to determine the specific group
responsible for each shelling incident documented but can identify the groups
that were conducting such operations during the time period covered in the
report.

Several groups, including the
Islamic Front (al-Haq Brigade), Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Farouq Brigades, and the
FSA (Ahfad Khaled Bin Walid Battalion) participated in a campaign, called the Sab
al-Niran campaign, that targeted areas identified as “loyal to the
regime” including al-Zahra, Akrama, and al-Nazha.[248]In September the group behind the campaign,
the “Council of Managing the Crisis in the City of Homs”, announced
that they would target pro-government areas in Homs mostly inhabited by
Alawites. They alleged that the government was using those areas to shell and
besiege other parts of the city including al-Waer.[249] They gave the
government a deadline by which to end alleged unlawful actions before the strikes
would begin.[250]
Later statements by armed groups participating reiterated this.

In discussing the strikes on the
residential areas, a military spokesperson for “besieged Homs,” Abu
Azzam al-Ansari, said that the primary targets of the campaign would be
government military targets, but that government forces deployed in civilian
areas would also be shelled. He added that he feared there would be civilian
deaths but said there were no other options.[251]

There are many videos showing the
shelling during the campaign, but there is no basis for determining from these
videos whether there were military targets and whether any steps were taken by
the attackers to minimize civilian loss of life and property. In a video dated
October 12, 2013, several groups, including Al-Farooq Brigades in Old Homs, Ahfad
Khaled Ibn Al-Walid Brigade, Jabhat al-Nusra, and al-Haq Brigade are
purportedly shown using improvised rockets and mortars to shell Homs neighborhoods
including al-Zahra, Akrama, al-Nuzha, al-Arman, al-Ashrafiya,
al-Mukhtariya, Tisnin, Kinyat Al-A’si, Jaburin, al-Mofakr, and al-Mokhrm as
part of the Sab al-Niran campaign.[252]

Free Syrian Army

Several videos posted on YouTube purport to show groups from
the Free Syrian Army (FSA) shelling the city of Homs. One video appears to show
the FSA group Abad Al-Rahman Battalion
attacking al-Zahra with mortars on December 15, 2012.[253] Another appears to show the FSA
group Ahfad al-Rasoul,shelling shabiha
positions in al-Zahra with Grad rockets on August 5, 2013.[254]
A video posted on October 29, 2013 again appears to show the same FSA group
shelling shabiha strongholds with a Grad rocket.[255]
On August 2, 2013, the FSA group Abtal/Heroes of al-Qusayr is also shown
apparently shelling shabiha in al-Zahra with a Grad rocket.[256]In
videos posted in December 2014 the FSA group Katiba Failaq al-Sham is also
shown shelling al-Zahra.[257]

Islamic Front

Several videos posted on YouTube purport to show groups from
the Islamic Front shelling the city of Homs. The Islamic Front and its member
groups have claimed responsibility for shelling Homs.[258]

For example, Liwa al-Haq(formed August 13, 2012) is
seen striking Bab Sba` in a video on November 3, 2013.[259]A video also purports to show Kata’ib Al-Huda Al-Islamiya, (July 1, 2011 formation), Liwa al-Haq striking a shabiha car in al-Zahra on
September 11, 2013.[260] Liwa
al-Haq, is also seen striking al-Zahra on September 9, 2013, which they refer
to as a shabiha stronghold, with Grad rockets, they claim in retaliation
for government shelling of civilians in al-Waer.[261]
They are shown targeting al-Zahra again with 107 mm rockets in a video posted
on July 27, 2013.[262] Before
that, on September 14, 2013 Liwa al-Haq shelled the city with an improvised
rocket allegedly for the shelling in al-Waer.[263]A video posted on April 30, 2014 shows
Liwa al-Haq, Katibat al-Ansar using an improvised rocket launcher to shell the
city.[264] Kata’ib
Atbaa Al-Rasul, Liwa al-Haq is also seen striking al-Zahra in retaliation for
government shelling in al-Waer on April 24, 2013.[265] A video
posted on April 20, 2104 also shows Ahrar al-Sham, an Islamic Front group,
attacking shabiha in al-Zahra with a Grad rocket.[266]

Islamic al-Farouq Brigades

The Islamic al-Farouq Brigades,(formerly
al-Farouq Brigades) are shown attacking al-Zahra
and al-Nazha March 18, 2013 in
cooperation with Liwa ‘ Fajr al-Islam and Kata’ib Bab Amr with a 120mm mortar.[267] In a video from April
2, 2013, the group claims to be targeting a
shabiha building from the
Old city of Homs.[268] In a
July 5, 2013 video, the group says they
are shelling “headquarters of the shabiha” with mortars from Old Homs.[269] In
a video from July 31, 2013 members of the groups say they are firing mortars
“in response to the bombing of Old Homs and neighborhood al-Waer.”[270]

Jabhat al-Nusra

A video posted on April 25, 2014, purports to show Jabhat
al-Nusra shelling Homs, including al-Zahra. The video states that the attack is
in retaliation for the shelling of Sunnis.[271]

Attack on Thabtieh

At
approximately 7 a.m. on November 4, 2013, a truck filled with explosives
detonated in a suicide attack in Thabtieh, a small village of 4,500 people,
killing five civilians, a mother and her four children and injuring
approximately 80 (over 50 were sent to the hospital in Homs city).[272]

When Human Rights Watch visited the village on November 7, residents were still clearing the debris from the explosion. The large explosion had destroyed at least 10 houses in a hundred meter radius from where the truck had exploded.

The five people killed belonged to the Habib family, whose house was closest to the truck. The father, who survived the attack, told Human Rights Watch that his wife and children had been at home when the explosion caused the walls and ceiling of the house to collapse on them. His wife and four of his children, aged between 1 and 16, were killed in the incident.[273] He told Human Rights Watch:

I heard a
low sound, I thought I was dreaming, then I felt the cement shaking, in a
fraction of a second I was squeezed in between the rooftop and the
floor… I thought it was only my house; I was surprised that I was
screaming and nobody was coming for me… [eventually] a man came and
pulled out the mattress from under me. When he pulled the mattress I was able
to escape. While I was getting out I realized that the small girl [my
daughter] that was sleeping next to us died… I didn’t want to go
to the hospital before I made sure everybody is alright, but they forced
me…in the hospital I waited for them to come one after the other,
hoping one of them would come in alive. But nobody did. Residents told us
that there were no military targets in the village, and Human Rights Watch
saw no evidence of any.[274]

Majed, a
13-year-old boy, told Human Rights Watch, “I was standing at the door
of my house with my parents at around 7 a.m. We were just sitting down for
breakfast and we heard the explosion. The windows broke, glass fell on our
heads.”[275] A 16-year-old boy who was injured
explained, “I was waking up to go to school when we heard the
explosion. Glass fell on the floor. The walls collapsed. I was hit by the
glass from the window and aluminum and with rocks in the head. There is still
some shrapnel stuck in my head.”[276]

Local
residents told Human Rights Watch that they believed that the village had
been targeted because the villagers were Shia but were surrounded by Sunni
villages.[277]

Media
reports identified the suicide bomber as Abu Musab al-Saudi, a member of
Jabhat al-Nusra.[278] A video posted on YouTube on June
7, 2013 also shows someone identifying himself as Abu Musab al-Saudi stating
that he is ready for the attack in Homs.[279] The video and description indicate
he is a suicide bomber.

VI. Applicable International Humanitarian Law

International Humanitarian Law

International humanitarian law, also known as the laws of
war, applies to the armed conflict in Syria.[280]The law applicable to the fighting in Syria, a non-international
(internal) armed conflict, includes article 3 common to the four Geneva
Conventions of 1949 (Common Article 3), and customary international
humanitarian law.[281]

A fundamental principle of the laws of war is that of the
distinction between civilians and combatants. Attacks may not be directed at
civilians or civilian objects, only at combatants and other military objectives.[282]
Combatants include members of armed forces or members of armed groups who are
involved in military operations. Civilians only become military
objectives and thus subject to attack when and for such time as they are
directly participating in the hostilities.[283] Where
there is doubt as to whether a person is a civilian or a combatant, that person
must be considered a civilian.[284]

Civilian objects are those that are not considered military
objectives.[285]Military objectives are combatants and those objects that “by
their nature, location, purpose or use, make an effective contribution to
military action and whose total or partial destruction, capture or
neutralization, in the circumstances ruling at the time, offers a definite
military advantage.”[286]

In general, the law prohibits direct attacks against what
are by their nature civilian objects, such as homes and apartments, places of
worship, hospitals, schools, businesses, and cultural monuments, unless they
are being used for military purposes.[287]

Deliberate, indiscriminate, or disproportionate attacks
against civilians and civilian objects are prohibited. Attacks are indiscriminate
when they are not directed at a specific military objective, or employ a method
or means of warfare that cannot be directed at a military objective or whose
effects cannot be limited.[288]

A disproportionate attack is one in which the expected
incidental loss of civilian life and damage to civilian objects would be
excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage
anticipated.[289] The expected danger to civilians and civilian objects depends on various
factors, including their location (possibly within or near a military
objective), the accuracy of the weapons used (depending on the trajectory, the
range, environmental factors, the ammunition used, etc.), and the technical
skill of the combatants (which can entail random launching of weapons when
combatants lack the ability to aim effectively at the intended target).[290]

In the conduct of military operations, parties to a conflict
must take constant care to spare the civilian population and civilian objects
from the effects of hostilities.[291] Parties are required to take precautionary measures with a view to
avoiding, and in any event minimizing, incidental loss of civilian life, injury
to civilians, and damage to civilian objects.[292]

Before conducting an attack, a party to the conflict must do
everything feasible to verify that the persons or objects to be attacked are
military objectives and not civilians or civilian objects.[293]
In its Commentary on
the Additional Protocols, the ICRC explains that the requirement to
take all “feasible” precautions means, among other things, that
those conducting an attack are required to take the steps needed to identify
the target as a legitimate military objective “in good time to spare the
population as far as possible.”[294]
They also must take all feasible precautions in the choice of means and
methods of warfare to minimize loss of civilian life and property.[295]

International
humanitarian law does not prohibit fighting in urban areas, although the

presence of large numbers of civilians place greater
obligations on warring parties to take steps to minimize harm to civilians.
Forces must avoid locating military objectives within or near densely populated
areas, and endeavor to remove civilians from the vicinity of military
objectives.[296]

The unlawful deployment of forces within or near densely
populated civilian areas does not however relieve opposing forces from taking
into account the risk to civilians when conducting attacks. The obligation to
respect international humanitarian law does not depend on reciprocity by belligerent
forces.[297]

Human Rights Watch opposes the use of unguided rockets, car
bombs and other explosive weapons with wide-area effect in populated areas as
being inevitably indiscriminate. When explosive weapons such as these detonate, they emit a destructive
blast wave and metal fragments that have a long and lethal reach. The metal
casing of the explosive weapon may also be designed to shatter into uniform
pre-formed fragments, which can penetrate the body and rip internal organs.

Some of the attacks carried out against Syrian-government
controlled areas seemed designed only to instill fear in the population or be
reprisals for unlawful acts committed by Syrian forces. International
humanitarian law explicitly prohibits attacks “the primary purpose of
which is to spread terror among the civilian population.”[298]
It also prohibits reprisals.[299] The Commentaries
of the International Committee of the Red Cross on Protocol II and customary
international law make clear that these broad prohibitions leave no room for
reprisals in a non-international armed conflict, such as in Syria.[300]

Serious violations of international humanitarian law, when
committed with criminal intent, amount to war crimes. Criminal intent requires
purposeful or reckless action. Individuals may also be held criminally liable
for attempting to commit a war crime, as well as assisting in, facilitating,
and aiding or abetting a war crime. Responsibility may also fall on persons
ordering, planning, or instigating the commission of a war crime.[301]

Commanders and civilian leaders may be prosecuted for war
crimes as a matter of command responsibility when they knew or should have
known about the commission of war crimes and took insufficient measures to
prevent them or punish those responsible.[302]

Under international law, Syria has an obligation to
investigate alleged war crimes by its nationals, including members of its armed
forces, and prosecute those responsible.[303]

War crimes include a wide array of offenses, including
mistreatment of persons in custody, and deliberate, indiscriminate, and
disproportionate attacks harming civilians.[304]
When committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a
civilian population, such offenses constitute crimes against humanity.[305]

Statements and videos from opposition groups taking
responsibility for car bombs and other explosive devices in Saida Zainab, Old
City and Central Damascus, Jaramana, Mleha and Homs.

Acknowledgements

This report was researched and written by Lama Fakih, Syria
and Lebanon researcher, and Ole Solvang, senior emergencies researcher, at
Human Rights Watch. The report was edited by Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East
and North Africa director; James Ross, legal and policy director; and Tom
Porteous, deputy program director.

The arms division at Human Rights Watch and Fred Abrahams,
special advisor in the children’s rights division, also reviewed the
report.

[2]
Human Rights Watch, We’ve Never Seen Such Horror; Human Rights
Watch, Syria—We Live as in War: Crackdown on Protestors in the
Governorate of Homs, November 11, 2011,
http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/syria1111webwcover_0.pdf; Human
Rights Watch, Syria—By All Means Necessary: Individual and Command Responsibility
for Crimes Against Humanity in Syria, December 15, 2011,
http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/syria1211webwcover_0.pdf.

[5]
See for example: “Plane bombed the city of the Izaz,” March 22,
2012, video clip, YouTube, http://youtu.be/LVHbcE7Sw5k (accessed February 9,
2015).

[6]
Helicopters used in the attacks have consisted mostly of Russian-built Mi-8/17
transport helicopters (which comprise the bulk of Syria’s active
helicopter force) and several Mi-25 attack helicopters. Institute for the Study
of War, “Syrian Air Force Air Defense Overview,” October 25,
2012,http://www.understandingwar.org/press-media/graphsandstat/syrian-air-force-air-defense-overview
(accessed February 9, 2015).

[13]
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, “Al-Qaeda Announces an
Islamic State in Syria,” April 9, 2013,
http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/al-qaeda-announces-an-islamic-state-in-syria
(accessed February 12, 2015).

[82]http://www.syria-news.com/readnews.php?sy_seq=156676Attacks on military targets in which
the attacker feigns civilian status to carry out the attack are acts of
perfidy, which is a violation of the laws of war.

[94]
“Tens of Martyrs and Wounded as a Consequence of Mortars Shells on
Jaramana in Damascus,” post to Aksalser (blog), October 10, 2013,
http://www.aksalser.com/?page=view_articles&id=2e7d56907d140d508635c7147f724973
(accessed February 11, 2015)Witnesses corroborated the names of
several of those killed. Human Rights Watch interview with Zein, and Yasser
Jaramana, November 5, 2013.

[124]“Images
of the Terrorist Explosions at the International Institute for Religious
Education in Damascus,” [n.d], video clip, YouTube,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6icC7iNuEc&feature=youtu.be (accessed
February 11, 2015).

[128]“Foreign Affairs: The terrorism of the armed groups
specifically against children, raises the question of the support of the
international community,” [n.d], video clip, YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SSZN9B555Y (accessed February 11, 2015).

[129] Oussama Baraa, “The list of names of
the school children who were victims of the mortar shells in Bab Sharki and
al-Qasaa,” All4Syria,
November 11, 2013, http://all4syria.info/Archive/110653 (accessed February 17,
2015).

[133] “Terrorist attack with three mortar shells on the outskirts
of the Dar al-Salam School and Salahieh neighborhood,” [n.d], video clip,
YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEzrJjeNUTE (accessed
February 11, 2015).

[138]
The Supreme Military Council Command, “Statement on the formation of the
Supreme Military Council Command of Syria,” Turkey, December 2012, post
to “Syrian Crisis” (blog), Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace http://carnegie-mec.org/publications/?fa=50445 (accessed February 11,
2015).

[141] On
May 11, 2013, the FSA reported firing homing missiles at the entrance of
Jaramana from Mleiha. “Summary of the latest and most important military
developments in Damascus and its countryside until Saturday,” post to
Free Syrian Army (blog), May 11, 2013, http://www.fsa-dam.com/main/13497
(accessed February 12, 2015)On May 13, 2013, the FSA reported using
ground-to-ground missiles to hit army units near Jaramana. “Latest
developments and military operations in Damascus and its countryside,”
post to Free Syrian Army (blog), May 13, 2013,

http://www.fsa-dam.com/main/13583 (accessed February
12, 2015); "The Free [Syrian]Army targets shabiha strongholds with
locally produced Ababeel 1 rockets in al-Dakhniya Damascus countryside,"
post to Free Syrian Army (blog), May 13, 2013,
http://www.fsa-dam.com/main/13562 (accessed February 12, 2015)the FSA reported shelling army outposts in Jaramana.
“Latest Developments and Military Operations in Damascus and its
Countryside,” post to Free Syrian Army (blog), May 14, 2013,
http://www.fsa-dam.com/main/13626

[144]
"Free [Syrian] Army targets checkpoint on southern ring road with local
rockets,”post to Free Syriam Army (blog), August 16, 2013,
http://www.fsa-dam.com/main/17045Free [Syrian] Army targets radio and television building
with 107 [mm] missiles in Umayyad Square in Damascus,” post to Free
Syrian Army (blog), August 15, 2013, http://www.fsa-dam.com/main/17002"Free [Syrian] Army targets Air Force Intelligence branch
in Abbasid Square in Damascus,” post to free Syrian Army (blog),
September 29, 2013, http://www.fsa-dam.com/main/18119”Free
[Syrian] Army targets Central Bank in Sabaa Bahrat in Damascus,” post to
Free Syrian Army (blog), October 9, 2013, http://www.fsa-dam.com/main/18337 ”Free [Syrian] Army targets
club for officers and military command staff in the capital of Damascus,”
post to Free Syrian Army (blog), November 6,
2013,http://www.fsa-dam.com/main/18974 (accessed February 12, 2015).

[147]Formed October 16, 2012 and led by Abu Gazem.
“Formation of Suyouf al-Haq Battalion, part of the Free [Syrian] Army in
al-Kiswa in rural Damascus,” [n.d], video clip, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL8PNcsOMeM

[148]
“Statement on the declaration of the Front for the Conquest of the
Capital in the Jobar neighborhood of Damascus,”[n.d], video clip, YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-oP02PwWiA
(accessed February 12, 2015).

[150]
Front for the Conquest of the Capital: Buildings occupied by security on the
Jobar front targeted with artillery,” [n.d], video clip, YouTube,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynEQHO_e2Ec&list=UUNUQ-0vlemCJWhf39PmvsUA&index=4

[154] Shabaab
al-Huda battalion, which along with four other groups formed al-Itihad
al-Islami la-Jund al-Sham on November 30, 2013, was active in Jobar as early as
March 19, 2013. “ShababAlhudaTroops,” video clip, YouTube,
https://www.youtube.com/user/ShababAlhudaTroops/featured (accessed February 12,
2015); “Shabab Alhuda,” Twitter, https://twitter.com/Shabab_Alhuda
(accessed February 12, 2015)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwatalbPo5chttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjCk-sh5LW0Shabaab al-Huda battalion
hitting the forts of shabiha in Jobar neighborhood,”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCfN3Cjunco&list=UUg2i_xzx67ASBM_L0wHeFNA

[155]“Declaration of the formation of the
al-Hurriyah wal-Karamah Brigade in the capital of Damascus,” November 21,
2012, video clip, YouTube,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHj19EGixBk&list=UUdj9ogsD94sAGFnqTvMThmw

[188]
“Death of 8 persons, in a bomb blast, in center Damascus, and mortar
shells with no victims,” Al- Riyadh, November 7, 2013,
http://www.alriyadh.com/2013/11/07/article881963.html (accessed February 11,
2015).

[196]
Rahif Ghanem, “Alawite Families in Homs: Between the Fire of the
Opposition and the Fire of the Regime,” The Damascus Bureau, July 22,
2013, http://www.damascusbureau.org/?p=5609 (accessed February 11, 2015).

[213]
Human Rights Watch interview with Jaffar, November 6, 2013. The 70-year-old
man’s name was Aziz Saqr. The shop owner did not know the names of the
others because they were not from the area. Saqr’s name was also
mentioned on a Facebook post. “Homs Central Region News
Network,” Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=245235098959310&id=185844038231750 (accessed February 19, 2015).

[249]
Ayman Mohamad, “The people of the Old City of Homs to the Coalition: We
will withdraw because of your delay in lifting the siege,” Orient news,
October 8, 2013, http://orient-news.net/index.php?page=news_show&id=5653https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V79lORNOJqw (accessed
February 12, 2015)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjVJy4C4bA4(accessed
February 12, 2015).

[264]
“Free [Syrian] Army targets regime army positions with Grad missiles in
loyalist neighborhoods in the city of Homs,” [n.d], video clip, YouTube,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTFi9nR9ryg (accessed February 12, 2015).

[279]
“The martyr, the hero Abu Musab before going to Homs, we ask God to
accept him among the martyrs,”[n.d], video clip, YouTube,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ydkCJ3uamc (accessed February 17, 2015).

[280] For
a detailed discussion on applicability of international humanitarian law to the
conflict in Syria, see Human Rights Watch, “They Burned My Heart.”
The International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) concluded in July 2012 that the
situation in Syria amounts to a non-international armed conflict. See ICRC,
“Syria: ICRC and Syrian Arab Red Crescent maintain aid effort amid
increased fighting,” July 17, 2012,
http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/update/2012/syria-update-2012-07-17.htm
(accessed February 2, 2013). International human rights law, including the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), also continues to
be applicable during armed conflicts. Human rights law guarantees all
individuals their fundamental rights, many of which correspond to the
protections afforded under international humanitarian law including the
prohibition on torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, non-discrimination,
and the right to a fair trial for those charged with criminal offenses. It also
includes the basic freedom from arbitrary detention.

[281]
See Geneva Conventions of 1949; First Additional Protocol of 1977 to the Geneva
Conventions of 1949; Hague Regulations of 1906; International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Henckaerts & Doswald-Beck, eds.,Customary
International Humanitarian Law (Cambridge:
Cambridge Univ. Press 2005). While Syria is not a party to the Second
Additional Protocol of 1977 to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, which applies to
non-international armed conflicts, many of the protocol’s provisions are
widely recognized as part of customary international law.

[282] ICRC,
Customary International Humanitarian Law,
rule 1, citing Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949,
and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts
(Protocol I), of 8 June 1977, arts. 48, 51(2); Protocol Additional to the
Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims
of Non-International Armed Conflicts (Protocol II), of 8 June 1977, art. 13(2).

[284]See ICRC, Customary
International Humanitarian Law, rule 16 (“Each party to the conflict
must do everything feasible to verify that targets are military
objectives”), citing Protocol I, art. 57(2)(a); 1999 Second Protocol to
the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property, art. 7.

[305] According
to the Appeals Chamber in Blaskic: “In light of the customary
rules on the issue [Protocol I, arts. 51(2-4), Protocol II, art. 13(2), and the
Hague Regulations of 1907, art. 25], the Appeals Chamber holds that attacks in
which civilians are targeted, as well as indiscriminate attacks on cities,
towns, and villages, may constitute persecutions as a crime against
humanity.” International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia, Blaskic (Appeals Chamber), July 29, 2004, para.
159.